Presidential debate season kicks off

On Friday, Sept. 26, the first presidential debate took place at the University of Mississippi. Even after suspending his campaign, Senator John McCain agreed to the presidential debate with Senator Barack Obama. Moderator Jim Lehrer wasted no time with tough questions; his first topic was the financial crisis. The debate was supposed to center around foreign policy. However, due to our current financial crisis, approximately 45 minutes of the 90 minute debate was spent discussing plans for the financial crisis. Other questions included what the policy differences were between McCain and Obama, what they are willing to sacrifice in lieu of the financial crisis, what lessons could be learned from Iraq and what they think the threat of Iran is to the United States. Moderator Jim Lehrer also asked about the relationship between Russia and the United States, and the likelihood of anther 9/11-type attack. Both senators provided detailed answers and an interesting show for the viewers. Many opinions exist on the performance of Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama. On CBS, Rudy Giuliani criticized Obama’s foreign policy experience, citing how frequently Obama started a rebuttal with “You’re right, McCain.” Others have praised Senator Obama for exhibiting his knowledge of foreign policy. Seems like each individual will have to interpret this debate for themselves. A few interesting observations that were made: McCain did not once even look at Obama, let alone make eye contact, and Obama can often be seen almost laughing while McCain speaks. Every debate starts at 9 p.m. eastern on every major broadcast network, as well as cable outlets and will last for 90 minutes. Future presidential debates will include the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate; Oct. 7 presidential and the Oct. 15 presidential with a focus on domestic policy. More information on the details of each debate, you can visit http://www.youdecide2008.com/.