Debate Recap In a "Nutshell"

Here Are Some Of The Most Important Concerns After Last Night's Presidential Debate, Most Of Which I Spoke About At Greater Length In My Prior Video Blog:


1.) Barack Obama said that he wrote a letter of "concern" to the Treasury Secretary about the impending subprime lending meltdown. What Mr. Obama failed to mention is that he accepted a $125,000 donation from Fannie Mae to his Senate Campaign. This was the second largest donation made by the secondary mortgage behemoth (behind Senator Dodd of Connecticut). In fact, several Democrats in both the House and Senate received campaign contributions from Fannie in exchange for keeping the regulators away, ensuring that both Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac would receive special treatment in order to pad their profits from the artificial "mortgage boom" that resulted from subprime lending. As we all now know, that boom is now a bust, and we as the taxpayers may very well have to foot the bill.


2.) John McCain, at least THREE times, confronted Obama about over $900 million in "earmark funding" requests that Obama has made as a Senator, while also pointing out that Obama only withdrew these requests after he decided to run for president. Obama completely dodged the issue, at one time even attempting to change the subject to the special tax breaks he thinks McCain will give to the "rich." Obama never addressed the earmark issue.


3.) Barack Obama is proposing over $800 million dollars of federal government spending in NEW programs, while still claiming to be able to give the majority of us a tax cut. He has yet to withdraw this proposal, despite the fact that the federal "bailout" package, if approved, is expected to cost at least $700 BILLION. In the midst of continued wasteful spending by the government, and particularly in light of the current economic crisis, Obama had the audacity to claim that certain areas of the budget are still "underfunded." While John McCain insisted on a need for a spending freeze, Obama only spoke of actually INCREASING government spending.


4.) Obama still shows very little, if any, understanding of the threat posed by Iran to the safety and security of the entire free world. He said that he will sit down and talk with ANYONE if it would help our "national security" and did not even rule out a face to face meeting with Iranian President Ahmadinjad himself. This is absolutely ridiculous, because as long as Iran is governed by a radical, terrorist sponsoring, Islamic theocracy, attempting any type of diplomacy will be an exercise in futility, and will not be in the interests of our national security at all. Iran will actually feel emboldened if we have a president that their govenment is able to manipulate and lie to, making promises and then breaking those promises once we turn our backs. This is all that rogue states such as Iran (and others, muslim or not) have done in the past.
Why does Obama think Iran will act any differently this time around?

SUMMARY: While Barack Obama was very poised and articulate in his delivery (moreso than McCain I'll admit), he still shows very little understanding of the "big picture" when it comes to both Middle East issues, as well as our own nation's current financial crisis. He seems more interested in saying the right things in the "here and now" just to get himself elected, showing little willingness (if any) to make the tough decisions that are in the best interests of the American people and our allies abroad. It will take a lot more than charisma and good public speaking skills to effectively respond to such crucial issues. That is something that, unfortunately, Barack Obama does not understand.