Presidential Debate
I watched the debate on Thursday and had several observations on the candidates' veiws. First, Bush made the comment that our country must, "constantly stay on the offensive" (about 9:10pm). This comment scared me because to me, this sounds almost Hitler-esque in the mentality of staying militarily offensive. Kerry came back with a comment that our country should stay on Osama Bin Laden (about 9:12pm). This response by Kerry is more in line with how I feel, the idea that we should have a more defenite and clear objective (ex. Osama Bin Laden).The next idea I felt like commenting on is when Bush said, "We have to be right 100% of the time...the terrorists only have to be successful once" (about 9:24pm). This comment built abosolutely zero confidence in me and made me more unsure than ever about our homeland security.
However, Bush had an idea that I really agreed with. About 27 minutes into the debate he made the statement that he cannot set an "artificial" deadline for leaving Iraq (as where Kerry says he could be out in 6 months). I agree with Bush's concept because Iraq seems to be such a complicated situation, that I don't think any leader could say an exact day that we could cease our occupation.
An idea of Kerry's that I agreed with is that our country must make allies realize their stakes in the war (about 9:32pm). I believe this because I think that success in Iraq is based on the entire world understanding and being involved. We can't just have our country acting as some authoritarian figure that bullies our allies into involvement.
Yet, later, Kerry made me feel uncomfortable when he said that he would go after nuclear weapons in North Korea (about 9:39pm). This view makes me feel uncertain about Kerry and his stance on military occupation in foreign countries.
By 45 mintues into the debate, I was sick of hearing if Iraq was necessary and I started to want to hear more of what each will do.
Overall, the debate ran too long for me. The physical presentation of the candidates was interesting. I personally thought Bush looked better at the podium, he was slightly leaning forward, which I thought gave the impression of being personable, prepared, and comfortable. Kerry, on the other hand, was slightly leaning back. To me, this made Kerry seem less personable...yet, it also could have implied that Kerry was being more responsive to Bush's comments. By this, I mean that the leaning slightyly back could show he was taking in Bush's comments, thinking about them, and then planning the most relavant response.
Anyway, for me, these were the major themes and ideas of the first Presidential debate.
-Daniel Jeffrey Bassett
posted by Anonymous @ 8:56 PM
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