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Media Credit: Google Images Its a tough choice for 2008.

Media Credit: Google Images Senator's Barack Obama and John McCain hug it out.

Media Credit: Google Images Jim Lehrer moderated the first debate

The Nov. 4 presidential election was preceded by three debates between the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, and the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. The first debate was on Sept. 26 at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. Jim Lehrer, anchor of the PBS show The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, was the moderator.

Lehrer opened the debate with former President Eisenhower's quote, "We must achieve both security and solvency. In fact, the foundation of military strength is economic strength." From there, Lehrer focused on the nation's financial crisis, asking the candidates what they think of the $700 billion bailout plan.

Senator Obama had the first response, and said, "You know, we are at a defining moment in our history. Our nation is involved in two wars, and we are going through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression." He summed up his position numerically, "number one, we've got to make sure that we've got oversight over this whole process; $700 billion, potentially, is a lot of money.... And, number four, we've got to make sure that we're helping homeowners, because the root problem here has to do with the foreclosures that are taking place all across the country."

Senator McCain responded similarly and spoke about the reaching-across-the-isle cohesion of Congress, "…as we're here tonight in this debate, we are seeing, for the first time in a long time, Republicans and Democrats together, sitting down, trying to work out a solution to this fiscal crisis that we're in… we have finally seen Republicans and Democrats sitting down and negotiating together and coming up with a package.."

In response to this first question, debate observer Jennifer Ziggarelli, said, "I am concerned that neither candidate took a strong position against the bail-out, showing that once again, they are being influenced by other interests… those who are monetarily supporting their campaigns." Though the candidates were in accord with their first response, for the rest of the debate, they seemed to be at each other, opposing each other's view, and drawing a clear line in the sand.

The discord started with the very next question, when Lehrer asked the candidates to "talk to each other." The first attack was by Obama, "as we solve this short-term problem, [it's important] that we look at some of the underlying issues that have led to wages and incomes for ordinary Americans to go down… [we have a] health care system that is broken, energy policies that are not working… [yet only] 10 days ago, John [McCain] said that the fundamentals of the economy are sound."

Soon after, McCain attacked Obama's spending, "[Obama] has asked for $932 million of earmark pork-barrel spending, nearly a million dollars for every day that he's been in the United States Senate."

The two senators went on to debate everything from tax cuts to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with increasing vitriol. Another observer of the debate, Nicholas Ruscitto, from Rotterdam, NY, said, "Obama looked a lot more confident…[but is] a windbag." Ruscitto added, "I don't know why McCain wanted to do town hall debates because walking around makes him look a lot older."And of both candidates, Ruscitto observed, "There was a lot of fake smiling."

Jamal Saad expressed, "I thought Obama showed an overwhelming knowledge of the issues, especially foreign policy issues, while McCain kept repeating… talking to terrorists without preconditions." Ziggarelli lamented about the debate in whole, "Unfortunately, I think both candidates wasted too much time antagonizing their opponent rather than answering the questions and discussing the topics. I don't want to hear why the other side is unworthy."

Although the debate between Senator's Obama and McCain was more adversarial than diplomatic, the viewing public seemed to be in agreement that this election is good for the country. Debate observer Ralph Wojtech sums up his feelings, "I truly believe America is on the cusp of tremendous growth both financially, spiritually….there will be some heartache and challenges along the way - but I am glad I am alive during a very interesting time. As campaigns go, this is probably the best choice in candidates in my 30 years of voting. Half of the country is going to be heartbroken over the results."

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