The First Presidential Debate Of 2008

Last Friday the first presidential debate caused so much commotion because no one knew if John McCain (seen-l) would show up! 

If you recall, last week Senator McCain decided to do the inevitable and suspend his campaign until further notice. He felt that addressing the crisis on wall street back in Washington, was far more important than discussing the current issues plaguing the American people.

Shouldn't a future president be able to multitask instead of delaying the first presidential debate, just to sit in a meeting with George W. Bush, and never speak on the issues which results in no solution ever emerging; thus leaving us confused of why McCain even bothered to put forth the effort?

Fortunately, the Arizona senator ended up coming to the debate in Oxford, Mississippi, to face his opponent, and regrettably so because as both candidates entered to shake hands, the media and all of America noticed the coldness from John McCain towards Senator Obama. He wouldn't even look at him!

In the beginning, the debate was rather slow. Neither candidate directed questions at one another, until the moderator made them. Both McCain and Obama addressed the current economic crisis -- but very briefly, because neither candidate knew what the outcome would actually be. 

Personally, I thought both candidates would come with an explanation of what they would do as president to fix the current economic crisis, although House representatives are currently working on a resolution. Moreover, instead of both candidates initiating a proposal of their own, they seemed to agree with the current Bush administration's bailout plan.

Redundancy became apart of the debate, with both men using obvious talking points from their campaign travels. But the atmosphere heated up fast as both candidates went back and forth, arguing about the war in Iraq, health care, and why McCain kept telling Obama that he just didn't get it.

McCain spoke to Obama as if he were a student still trying to figure things out, but the only thing Obama had to figure out during the debate was his opponents name, as he frequently fumbled calling the Arizona senator "Tom", "Tim", and "Jim!" 

Furthermore, Obama received an A+ on the debate because he answered all questions thoroughly and accurately, while pinning McCain to George W. Bush with impeccable timing. 

Audience viewers voted on the debate with results of: Obama 51% to McCain's 38%; proving who the real winner was. McCain called the debate a tie, but of course he would.

During this first encounter between both presidential hopefuls, I learned that Barack Obama has a vast knowledge of international relations, and although Senator McCain performed better during the debate than he does on the campaign trail, his responses still didn't make me believe him.

Stay tuned for round two of the presidential debates October 9th, on CNN.

2008 LA