Obama, McCain debate over economy, foreign policy
8/10/2008 17:14
US presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain centered their
second debate on economy last night at Belmont University in Nashville,
Tenn.
They also offered contrasting views on foreign policy
issues.
Republican McCain said that he knows how to handle foreign affairs
and questioned Democratic Obama's judgment.
"My judgment is something that I
think I have a record to stand on," he said.
McCain said the "challenge"
facing a president considering using military force "is to know when to go in
and when not."
Obama questioned McCain's judgment in supporting the invasion
of Iraq.
"When Sen. McCain was cheerleading the president to go into Iraq, he
suggested it was going to be quick and easy -- we would be greeted as
liberators. That was the wrong judgment," he said.
Obama vowed to get Osama
bin Laden and defeat al-Qaida.
"We will kill bin Laden, we will crush
al-Qaida," he said.
McCain responded in equally strong terms: "I'll get him.
I know how to get him. But I am not going to telegraph my punches as Sen. Obama
did."
McCain and Obama seemed to agree that there were situations when the
United States should be willing to use force to stop a humanitarian crisis, even
when America was not directly threatened.
Earlier, Obama said the country has
a "moral commitment as well as an economic imperative" to address the health
care problem.
The Illinois senator said health care is a "crushing burden"
for small businesses and is "breaking family budgets."
Obama and McCain both
proposed computerizing medical records to reduce costs and limit
errors.
McCain argued that Obama's plan included fines for small businesses
that did not insure their employees, while his was based on "choice" rather than
"mandates."
Obama said health care was a "right," while McCain said it was a
"responsibility."
Obama's health care plan includes the creation of a
national health insurance program for individuals who do not have
employer-provided health care and who do not qualify for other existing federal
programs. His plan does not mandate individual coverage for all Americans, but
requires coverage for all children.
McCain opposes federally mandated
universal coverage. He believes competition will improve the quality of health
insurance.
McCain says he would reform the tax code to offer choices beyond
employee-based health insurance coverage.
Under the plan, all taxpayers would
receive a direct refundable tax credit of US$2,500 for individuals and US$5,000
for families.
During the first half of the debate, the candidates focused on
their plans to fix the economy.
McCain said that if he is elected president,
he will order the Department of Treasury to buy up Americans' bad mortgages and
renegotiate new loans that reflect their homes' diminished value in a bold
effort to reverse his sagging fortunes after a month of dire economic
news.
The economic crisis has "become so severe that we're going to have to
do something about home values," he said, offering up the name of Meg Whitman,
the entrepreneurial former chief executive of online auction site eBay, as a
good candidate for treasury secretary to steer the United States to
safety.
Obama responded by suggesting that super-investor Warren Buffett
would be a good choice for treasury secretary.
He outlined a follow-up to the
economic bailout of Wall Street that would target small businesses and
individual investors, calling for tax cuts for the middle class and aid to state
and local governments to boost road-building and other infrastructure projects
to create new jobs.
Both candidates said they understood Americans'
frustration with the government.
But Obama blamed President George W. Bush
for turning deficits he inherited into trillions of US dollars of deficits,
while McCain said Obama was at fault for not voting for budget cuts and tax
breaks.
Independent and undecided voters said the debate would give them the
chance to hear from the candidates in an unscripted setting.
And if the
latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll is any indication, what they wanted to
hear them talk about was the economy, which 3 in 5 voters ranked as their top
concern.
In the debate, McCain said there was no alternative but to accept
the need to cut spending on benefit programs.
Obama disagreed with a spending
freeze, saying everyday Americans could help avoid one by pitching in
themselves.
Energy policy illuminated some of the sharpest differences
between the candidates.
McCain called for an urgent ramp-up in US drilling
for oil, saying it was "vital so we can bridge the gap" until the United States
can become energy-independent."
While also calling for some increase in US
drilling, Obama warned that "we can't simply drill our way out of the problem"
because doing so would aggravate global warming.
Aides to both men signaled
ahead of time that McCain would try to hit Obama hard, noting his slide in
opinion surveys.
Three weeks after the Wall Street crisis began, t he latest
NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Obama leading by 6 points, 49 percent
to 43 percent, which equals his biggest margin of the campaign.
Among
independents, whom both campaigns see as the key to election, Obama has reversed
a large McCain lead in just two weeks, going from 13 points down to 4 points
ahead.
This is the second debate between the two candidates.
Their first
debate took place on Sept. 26 in Oxford, Miss., which Obama won according to
polls.
Yesterday's debate is the second in the series of three presidential
debates, but the format is different from the other two events.
It is set up
like a town hall meeting, and the audience is made up of uncommitted
voters.
Xinhua
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