Classroom Publication

Media Credit: New York Times

When the final debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain was taking place, several students immediately pledged their support for Senator Obama even before they heard what he was going to say. The third presidential debate focused on domestic policy and dealt with issues that included each candidate's potential economic plan, how they were going to reduce the deficit, and their leadership throughout their campaigns. It was in the opinion of a small group of students which viewed the debate that Obama had become the victor and hopefully would be the winner of the presidential election.

All throughout the presidential debate, it was believed that Barack Obama performed very well. "There was something about the way he presented himself that was able to assure me that he was the right guy for the job. He was forceful and always was assertive, and very serious," said Nick Maniscalco. Maniscalco 21, is a finance student at SUNY Albany. While he agreed in the way that Obama represented himself at the debate, he also agreed that out of the three presidential debates, this was the one that John McCain performed the best at. The reason he gave was that the format of the debate worked for him and allowed him to be looked at with the same statue as Obama. The style of the debate featured by Candidates sitting down at a table with the debate moderator at the center. "Although I am a supporter for Barack and I think he did great, but I noticed that McCain had a spark to him that seemed different from his other performances," Maniscalco said.

The thing that hit the most interest was when both candidates were discussing their tax policies. This attracted all the students because they believe either tax plan will eventually affect them as they graduate from college. For Senator McCain, the way that he humanized his tax plan and attacked Obama's plan was through "Joe The Plumber." McCain claimed that through his tax plan, Joe would be able to buy the business that he has been associated with and keep his taxes low. However, when McCain attacked Obama's tax policies, he said "he looked at your tax plan, and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes." With each attack on Obama's tax plan that McCain related back to "Joe the Plumber," SUNY student Gregory Lopez 21, noticed that Senator Obama bounced any of the attacks from McCain. The only way Obama responded to McCain's claims was by indicating who would be eligible for tax relief in the United States. "I want to provide a tax cut for 95% of working Americans. If you make less than a quarter million dollars a year, then you will not see your income tax go up, your capital gains tax go up, your pay roll tax, not one dime," said Senator Obama. Lopez, an accounting and business student from Nassau County was very pleased with the way Obama responded. "It wasn't BS like McCain who was sugarcoating his plan with the damn plumber. He was giving actual facts about how the plan would work and it was not vague. It was honest numbers and that's it," Lopez said.

When both candidates were asked about the people that they were going to bring into the government particularly relating to vice president candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, students were looking at each other and wondering what each candidate was going to say about their Vice President picks. Ironically, each candidate spoke very casual and offered complement to their partner. A big hush went around the room when it was brought up by Senator Obama that Senator Joe Biden would become an "outstanding president" if something happened to him. This got some of the students thinking about what if McCain does win and something was to happen to him. Sarah Pallin could potentially become the president. "If Pallin becomes President, I'm moving to Spain," Lopez said. However most of the students did listen to the cridentials of both Vice President candidates. Senator Biden was confirmed that he was always on the right side when dealing with issues affecting the American People while Governor Palin was confirmed to be a conformer and understands special needs families, McCain said. Still this idea of Palin being the vice president did not sit well with some people watching the debate.

As the end of the debate was occurring, students were making remarks as to how each candidate was behaving. Robert Register 21, was hoping that Obama would not do anything foolish because he had come so far. "Obama conducted his presence very appropriately and was able to stay very serious but be impressionable," Register Said. However Register, who is a medical student from Rome, New York, was disgusted at how McCain seemed to be so exuberant and playful at the end of the debate. "When he stuck out his tongue, I thought that was it, Obama needs the win," Register said.

The final presidential debate confirmed to all three students that they were going to vote for Senator Obama on Election Day. They had been convinced by his answers and his presence during the 90 minute debate. The only issue for one of the students is that he will have to return back to his home town in Nassau County, New York because he is registered there.

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