Thursday, September 04, 2008

Finally!

Finally, I found a way to look at our presidential candidates that makes sense and asks the questions that need to be asked. I have watched only clips of some of the speeches from both conventions. I did watch all of Sarah Palin's speech on youtube. She presents very well, is a very solid public speaker, but I didn't feel like she told me anything of substance that I could grab onto.

After watching this forum at the request of my mother, who almost never engages me in political discussions, I feel like I have something of substance with which to really look at the differences between Obama and McCain. The first thing that Pastor Warren said is what I feel in my heart - that what is needed in our country right now is for people to quit attacking each other because of differing political views. Keep that in mind, each candidate was asked the same questions, which were prefaced at times with either some biblical or philosophical references. Some of the questions I didn't care much about, especially the ones about religion (faith-based institutions). The questions I liked the best were: "what do you consider your greatest moral failure, and this country's greatest moral failure?" and "was there an issue that you have changed your views on in the past 10 years?".

Each candidate did well in answering tough questions. I think McCain looked better during this forum because his speech was more fluid. Obama had too many hesitations in his speaking, which most people would perceive as being "unsure". As far as the issues, my values are more aligned with Obama's than McCain's. However, after seeing this forum, I felt like both candidates care about the direction our country is headed and both would do a decent job as president. Then again, I've had some lowered expectations as a result of the last 8 years and where I see our country right now.

6 Comments:

Blogger tweetey30 said...

I am not very political at all but we are screwed either way in so many ways. Excuse the language Notta.

12:38 PM  
Blogger Carrie said...

Yep -- after the past 8 years, ANYONE would be better and in particular I have always felt that McCain was more honest and decent than most politicians. Since I am a committed Dem I have been almost worried by my inability to hate that guy. HOWEVER now that Sarah Palin has come along I have found all my righteous indignation and fear of having another Republican administration. And it's not that she's not likeable -- she's a dynamite speaker and I can see how she climbed so quickly. But she has galvanized me to fight even harder for Obama this year, if only for this reason: I have two daughters, and if this woman had the chance to nominate Supreme Court Justices, she could curtail some of their human rights. I'm not OK with that.

9:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Then again, I've had some lowered expectations as a result of the last 8 years and where I see our country right now.

We can only go up from here? Such a sad state of affairs. But, I agree. I don't care for McCain at all, but I can't imagine he'll do any worse than GW.

I like to check out factcheck.org. It's a good filter on all the rubbish you see in the commercials and campaign speeches.

7:30 PM  
Blogger Notta Wallflower said...

Tweety - I don't think we're screwed either way. I have a lot more hope now, no matter who gets elected.

Carrie - I don't consider myself in one boat or the other because my views are all over the place, but I lean Democrat. I'm not really clear on what Palin stands for. I think I'll check out Kit's recommended site. I do know that a few things in her speech were misrepresentations. Also, in general, I don't do well with ploys to get votes by inciting fear. However, I've never known a politician who didn't misrepresent facts. /sigh

Kit - Thank you for the recommendation. I'll definitely check it out.

7:56 PM  
Blogger The Zombieslayer said...

Then again, I've had some lowered expectations as a result of the last 8 years and where I see our country right now.

I think a lot of us have unfortunately. :(

11:19 PM  
Blogger Notta Wallflower said...

ZS - Even people I know who really supported Bush in the beginning have not been able to support him. Although, I still know people who are die hard Bush supporters. /sigh

8:31 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home