Earlier in the campaign, GOP Presidential hopeful Senator John McCain challenged Democrat standardbearer Senator Barack Obama to a series of townhall meetings as a way for Americans to compare and contrast their approach to issues. In doing that, two things were obvious: John McCain felt that he could clean Barack Obama’s clock in that style of debate, and his campaign probably felt as if they were the underdog going forward. This is particularly true given the “drive-by” media’s fawning coverage of the Obama campaign – playing up the highlights and glossing over the gaffes and misstatements.
While the pair were not on stage together, fellow blogger Bob McCarty recounted his observations on a candidate forum held at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Dubbed the Saddleback Civil Forum, moderator and church pastor Rick Warren questioned both candidates for an hour apiece. It was an opportunity to compare and contrast each candidate’s approach without the full time constraints of a formal debate.
Obviously it could be argued that the natural advantage went to John McCain because he went last, but Barack Obama also had a crack at making a good first impression. But I really brought this into the light because here was a newsworthy item that didn’t get a lot of play since it wasn’t held under the auspices of a television network or newspaper – rather, it was held in a religious setting. And had it not been for a blogger, I wouldn’t have become aware of the forum being held in the first place; still, millions will not have this piece of information known to them when they cast their ballots in November.
I’ve always operated under an assumption, that being when a voter is as well-informed as possible he or she will tap the touchscreen next to the candidate who is more conservative. It’s why I despise campaigning thirty seconds at a time on television – of course, I know that this method reaches the most people in the most efficient manner but 30 seconds is far too little to make more than one or two points and in most cases these points are simply negative ones toward the candidate’s opponent. (Yes, I make a lot of negative points toward liberals too but given the team that’s in charge, it’s necessary to point out their shortcomings. Where I do sometimes fall short is not providing sound alternatives, but once you have a pretty good understanding of how I write you should be able to figure out the overriding themes of limited government and enhanced personal freedom relatively well.)
The one issue I do have with the internet is that there’s almost too much information on a lot of things which aren’t necessarily important to how a candidate will perform once elected. On the other hand, it’s much better than the vacuum created by the thirty-second commercials, and I encourage everyone who’s interested to take an hour or two and do the research.
However, the first step in this process is internal. About this time last year I selected a Presidential candidate I liked, but first I had to decide the issues which were most important to me. There’s still time to complete that process before November and if monoblogue can be a help in making a decision, I’m happy to oblige.
Did anyone notice BHO’s answer to the question about the most gut wrenching decision he had to make? He answered that it was whether or not to send troops to Iraq. Uhhhh, he WAS NOT EVEN A SENATOR then!!!!
His other answer about when life begins summed up his entire campaign, “it is above his pay grade.”