Debate Round Two

Again issues of format dominated the debate as both candidates reverted to their often heard talking points under the strain of time constraints and an intrusive moderator. Tom Brokaw insisted he was "just a hired hand" when he met resistance from the debaters to his enforcing the rules. He ultimately is an employee of General Electric, the same company that hired Ronald Reagan as its corporate spokeman. In this viewer's opinion he exhibited a bias in favor of John McCain in both his framing of follow up questions and the timing of his interruptions. The best exchange between the two presidential candidates occurred concerning the financial crisis, but neither offered any detail about how the enormous cost of the bailout plan will affect their proposed programs. Obama scored by successfully identifying McCain with deregulation, a generally accepted underlying cause of the current crisis. McCain did his best to ingratiate himself with the audience, often approaching them closely, and at one point laying his hand on a shoulder of a fellow Navy veteran. He made one new proposal that is actually an old idea: reviving the New Deal's Homeowners Loan Corporation, but someone should tell him that Social Security is solvent until 2049. Obama did a better job of explaining his proposals, but at a distance, and responding to McCain's attack lines. He ignored the succinct and penetrating question of should health care be treated as a profitable commodity in the United States. But it is too much to expect a modern politician to engage in a philosophical discussion before a live television audience in the alloted time. That's too bad for us because it is our country's fundamental principles we urgently need to address.