The Presidential Debate

As I have mentioned in previous blog entries, I have never been interested in politics. However, for my argumentative writing class, it would only make sense that we are expected to follow this year's presidential election, as much of the campaign deals with persuasive rhetoric through events such as debates. I have to admit also, that in addition to the fact that I am expected to follow current issues and politics for class, I have enjoyed how much I have learned so far and how much interest the campaign has sparked in me thus far.

Last Tuesday night, I watched the second of three presidential debates. I thought both candidates did a nice job presenting their arguments, even though they consistently went over their time constraints. One thing in particular that I noticed was something concerning the very last question, "What don't you know, and how will you learn it?" It seemed to me that Obama never actually answered this question. Instead, he stated what he did know: that he had many opportunities handed to him in life, and that we need fundamental change to ensure that these opportunities are passed down to the next generation. McCain appeared to clearly answer the question by saying that what he does not know is what the unexpected will be; what challenges we will face at home and abroad.

On another note, I also was interested to hear what both candidates had to say about energy and the environment, because I am in an environment class right now where we discuss many ecological issues and ways of solving these problems. What I thought was interesting about this part of the debate was after McCain spoke, and Obama told the audience that McCain mentioned that over the last 30 years, politicians in Washington haven't done anything about our energy problems, but that what he didn't mention was that he was there for 26 of those years. He then proceeds to say it is easy for us to talk about this during a campaign, but "it requires a sustained effort from the next president." I thought this was a very effective point, and Obama did a nice job of presenting it.