Presidential Candidates Hold Second Debate
Economy, healthcare are primary concerns.
Kellen Riell
Issue date: 11/10/08 Section: Presidential debate
Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain engaged in their second debate October 7.
This time, the debate took place in Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, before a live audience of 80 "uncommitted voters," chosen by The Gallup Organization. The two presidential-hopefuls answered questions from the moderator and the audience.
Issues which concerned the audience included the economy, healthcare, the environment, and foreign diplomacy. Big on the the minds of the audience was the crisis on Wall Street.
Senator McCain blamed the democrats for Wall Street's decline, while Senator Obama claimed to have anticipated the crisis, and to have recommended its solution, long before it occurred.
"[Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac], they're the ones that, with the encouragement of Senator Obama and his cronies and his friends in Washington, that went out and made all these risky loans, gave them to people that could never afford to pay back," McCain said.
"Two years ago, I said that we've got a sub-prime lending crisis that has to be dealt with," Senator Obama responded. "I wrote to Secretary Paulson, I wrote to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, and told them this is something we have to deal with, and nobody did anything about it. A year ago, I went to Wall Street and said we've got to reregulate, and nothing happened."
The two senators offered different plans to reverse the recession. Obama stressed the importance of higher taxes for the rich, while his opponent claimed that the government ought not to touch the people's wealth, but to leave it where it is.
"When Sen. McCain is proposing tax cuts that would give the average Fortune 500 CEO an additional $700,000 in tax cuts, that's not sharing a burden," Obama said. "It's tough to ask a teacher who's making $30,000 or $35,000 a year to tighten her belt when people who are making much more than her are living pretty high on the hog."
"My friends, the last president to raise taxes during tough economic times was Herbert Hoover, and he practiced protectionism as well, which I'm sure we'll get to at some point," McCain said.
This time, the debate took place in Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, before a live audience of 80 "uncommitted voters," chosen by The Gallup Organization. The two presidential-hopefuls answered questions from the moderator and the audience.
Issues which concerned the audience included the economy, healthcare, the environment, and foreign diplomacy. Big on the the minds of the audience was the crisis on Wall Street.
Senator McCain blamed the democrats for Wall Street's decline, while Senator Obama claimed to have anticipated the crisis, and to have recommended its solution, long before it occurred.
"[Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac], they're the ones that, with the encouragement of Senator Obama and his cronies and his friends in Washington, that went out and made all these risky loans, gave them to people that could never afford to pay back," McCain said.
"Two years ago, I said that we've got a sub-prime lending crisis that has to be dealt with," Senator Obama responded. "I wrote to Secretary Paulson, I wrote to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, and told them this is something we have to deal with, and nobody did anything about it. A year ago, I went to Wall Street and said we've got to reregulate, and nothing happened."
The two senators offered different plans to reverse the recession. Obama stressed the importance of higher taxes for the rich, while his opponent claimed that the government ought not to touch the people's wealth, but to leave it where it is.
"When Sen. McCain is proposing tax cuts that would give the average Fortune 500 CEO an additional $700,000 in tax cuts, that's not sharing a burden," Obama said. "It's tough to ask a teacher who's making $30,000 or $35,000 a year to tighten her belt when people who are making much more than her are living pretty high on the hog."
"My friends, the last president to raise taxes during tough economic times was Herbert Hoover, and he practiced protectionism as well, which I'm sure we'll get to at some point," McCain said.
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