September 26, 2008

First Presidential Debate In 2008: Obama "Beats" McCain

Posted at: 11:42 pm by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Entertainment and News

Tonight was the first debate of the 2008 Presidential Elections and it went very well…for Barack Obama. Obama was clear on his stances, even when John McCain made the country question them. Obama answered his questions very well and made McCain fumble with his words a lot. McCain also sounded very nervous like he was getting caught in lies or that he didn’t have a rebuttal.

John McCain kept bringing up the “care for veterans” and “war in Iraq“, but not really about anything else. I see nothing wrong with the giving the proper care for veterans, who deserve it, but I have a problem with spending $10 billion per month in Iraq while they have an $80 billion surplus. John McCain is good at one thing and that is to take the middle part of the country and dangle a shiny object in front of them and start telling them a bunch of lies about Barack Obama and hope they listen. I am not a political analyst, but I care about the country and the current path that it is taking. If I don’t know what something is, I research it. Whether the research is done online, in a book, on the tv or even respectively discuss it among friends. One of my friends posted something similar on twitter. If you don’t care enough to pay attention and/or don’t vote, you don’t have the right to complain.

Obama said he is not going to raise, even lower, the taxes for 95% of the working families. If you make less than $250,000/year, you will not see anymore taxes, everyone over that will see a raise. If you make $250,000/year, you can afford more than a family of 6 who might not have their home anymore because the parents got laid off due to the economy. The single parent who works two/three jobs so that their children can have a decent chance at accomplishing something wonderful in their life. John McCain is against this, because he is part of that since he is worth around $25 million himself. Obama wants to close all of the loopholes in the business tax and give that money to people who need it. This country is being run by the rich and portrayed as the rich, however, working families are struggling to pay the mortgage and the medical bills. It isn’t right for some families to choose between paying for the house, eating properly or send their children to get an education. I am not talking about the people who screwed up their lives because of drugs, gambling or alcohol. I am talking about the families who work to try and get by and then get laid off because the company can’t afford them anymore due to the economic crisis.

Barack Obama brought up education for children, universal health care and independence from foreign oil. He explained that each of those are going to be on his top priority list because that is the change America needs. If we want to be seen as the most educated country in the world, then we need to help students have a chance to go to college who couldn’t because of money. Get Federal Aid to those who need it and not those who “earn” it. If someone works hard and get good grades, they deserve scholarships and some grants, however, if kids are cheating through high school because they didn’t get a good education as a child, it leaves out the people who want to go to college and get more of an education. Universal health care will help Americans who are out of work or do not have work paid health insurance to be able to get basic care. Our dependence on foreign oil needs to be dealt with and Obama has a plan for that within 10 years while McCain is talking about 2030 for his nuclear power. Yes, offshore drilling would have a little benefit, but you can’t replace new/renewable energy options with drilling. Obama has a better plan to lead this country than John McCain and I believe that Obama will come out on top.

An instant poll taken right after the debate giving Obama an edge on the current results. Since this debate was mainly about the economy, the poll showed that 68% of random undecided votes said that Obama would handle the economy better than McCain at 41%. Also for their opinion about Barack Obama after the debate, 46% said better, 46% said no change and 7% said worse. That’s a 39% increase than what he had before, and John McCain wanted to cancel the debate. I knew Obama would win if the debate happened.

This map displays the current predictions as of time of post.

The map below shows what would happen if New Hampshire and Florida vote with Barack Obama, he would win the election. However, I am not getting these facts out of thin air. In a story posted in mid-July, Florida’s Democratic registrations shot up 106,000 in a 5 month span compared to the Republican’s registration at 16,000. More people are agreeing with Obama than with John McCain. Florida is 27 votes which would leave Obama four votes shy of the presidency. Any other state would also guarantee the election, but the easiest might be New Hampshire. Even though it is a “southern” thinking state, in 2004, NH voted democrat and gave all their votes to John Kerry. There is a possibility that NH could turn to Obama and this election would be “over”.