Friday evening marked the first of three presidential debates between Senators McCain and Obama. This first debate was held at Old Miss in Oxford, Mississippi. The debate was originally set to discuss foreign policy issues, but because of the current economic crisis, the first third of the debate was focused on questions on the economy.
Who won the debate runs along political lines. MSNBC, a left leaning news show, picked Obama as the winner, while FOXnews, more right leaning, picked McCain. CNNnews, which in my opinion is more to the center politically, had a poll that declared Obama the winner.
I watched the debates and tried to be impartial. (Ya right!!) I thought both candidates had their moments and each scored points during the 90+ minutes of debate. What was quite noticeable however was how Senator McCain never once looked at Senator Obama while talking to him, while many times Senator Obama looked at Senator McCain and ofter addressed him as John before starting to speak. Senator McCain also always addressed Senator Obama in the third person while talking about him as if he wasn't even in the room. Now I don't know if that is some kind of debate strategy, perhaps my friend Jack can enlighten me on this, but it just seemed rude to me. It also seemed like Senator McCain was talking down to Senator Obama, like an adult talking to a child.
Another revealing aspect of the debates was seeing the cameras catch the facial expressions of Senator McCain while Senator Obama was talking. He would sneer at times, or smile condescendingly, or roll his eyes. Not very professional in my mind.
The Senators have two more debates ahead of them in the next few weeks. Should be interesting. Governor Palin and Senator Biden face off this coming Thursday.
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