Americans lost the debate

After the first Presidential debate, the cable news channels were primarily focused on trivial matters like body language of the debaters, and who ultimately won the debate. The truth is, the American people became the losers.

The first debate between Presidential candidates Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama took place last Friday. Although the focus of the debate was intended to be on Foreign Affairs, they spent the first forty-five minutes talking about the economy. Then they moved onto issues like Iraq, Iran and the war on terror. On most issues, both candidates were philosophically opposed to each other. The Republican John McCain wants to continue the war in Iraq until we win, favors a $5,000 tax credit for health insurance, and prefers to see Iran disband it’s nuclear weapon ambitions before America opens talks with Iran.  The Democrat Barack Obama thinks we should be talking to Iran in order to get them to stop the nuclear program, prefers accessible health insurance to all and wants the US military to leave Iraq. At the end of the debates, the political pundits on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News spent most of their time talking about, “John McCain did not make eye contact with Barack Obama”, “Barack Obama looked Presidential”, “John McCain won the foreign policy part of the debate”, “Barack Obama won the economic part of the debate”. The following day the New York Daily News had a headline, “John McCain on points”, although on the next page they were reporting that the majority of Americans who saw the debate thought Obama had won. The New York Post’s front page on that same Saturday was, “First Strike … McCain, Obama come out swinging”.

The American public would have  been much better served by a discussion or educated analysis of the two senators’ positions and what each would mean for tax payers. It would have been informative to hear  economists discuss the pros and cons of the two economic policies. The American people would have been able to make a more informed decision if we had heard from neutral foreign policy experts discussing the potential effects of each candidate’s position on world affairs.

Every four years we are told this election is the most important in our nation’s history, yet it seems like every four years, during the presidential election cycle, the media thrives on small issues. Whether John McCain makes eye contact or not with Barack Obama in the debate does not make our lives any better.  It’s time the media lead by example. and make our elections about big issues.