[mukto-mona] Biden edged Palin in the veep debate

Biden edged Palin in the veep debate

 

A.H. Jaffor Ullah

 

Sarah Palin had a rough week before going into the veep (vice presidential) debate at St. Louis, Missouri.  Her performance in one-to-one interview with CBS anchorwoman Katie Couric was so dismal that many members of the Republican "base" were disheartened at the naiveté she had shown.  Palin could not mention one newspaper that she reads to obtain information, news etc.  Nor could she mention one judgment of the Supreme Court beyond "Roe versus Wade" decision on abortion.  She simply portrayed her as a naïve and dilettante in politics.  Under this backdrop she went to the debate in America's heartland to confront Joe Biden, the running mate of Barack Obama.

 

All news sites in the Internet were abuzz with the prospect of veep debate.  Bloggers were writing their opinion on how she is going to perform in tonight's debate?  She however surprised her critics.  She did not win in the debate but she did not lose either.  There were no bloopers from both sides.  Senator Biden was more articulated as he enumerated how the Obama-Biden Administration is going to change the future of America in the aftermath of the horrendous meltdown in the financial market and an impending deep recession.  The viewers did not get a clear picture from Sarah Palin on how the McCain-Palin Administration would shape up America from the financial mess brought on by the benign neglect of Bush Administration who along with Senator McCain had championed the mantra of deregulation of financial institutions who were able to venture into questionable areas of credit market persuaded by greed alone.

 

Tonight's debate was moderated by PBS 'News Hour & Washington Week' host Gwen Ifill.  The format of the debate was such that no follow-up question could be asked.  Nor any participant could ask directly the other one any question.  Senator Biden was very careful not to attack Gov. Palin; therefore, all he could do was critique Senator McCain.  Similarly, Sarah Palin did not attack Joe Biden but she became the proverbial attack dog who questioned the judgment of Barack Obama on various issue from Iraq War to Democrats' taxing the common Americans.

 

The debate was started with predictable question on financial meltdown.  I was very surprised to hear from Sarah Palin that John McCain is a reform-minded legislator who wanted to reform the financial firm.  Ms. Palin conveniently forgot that McCain always sided with Republicans on deregulation of Banks and the Wall Street, which caused the subprime lending mess and much more.  Joe Biden reminded Sarah Palin that two years ago Senator Obama wrote letter to Hank Paulson on the danger imposed by the widespread practice of subprime lending.

 

On the question of how the nation was going to get out of financial mess, Sarah plain naively answered that what the people need is tax relief.  She said that Obama would increase the tax of ordinary Americans.  The experts however had opined that under Obama's plan only the folks who make more than $ 250,000 per year will pay more taxes.  As per Sarah Palin, most small businessperson earns over $ 250,000 per annum.  Joe Biden disagreed strongly with Ms. Palin on this.  The Republicans have given the rich people of America a hefty tax break over the years and Obama wants to stop the practice.  Sarah Palin quoted Ronald Reagan's populist slogan "The government is not the solution, but the problem."  Joe Biden reminded the voters that McCain wants to privatize the healthcare system and also give $ 5,000 as tax credit to each individual for paying the health premium, which should be reported as income.  The critics of the McCain healthcare reform say that this would cause burden to taxpayers because it would increase the tax. 

 

In the beginning of the debate Sarah Palin evaded answering a few questions on economy but mentioned about her expertise on energy.  She brought the energy issue quite a few times even though the moderator did not ask any question on energy.

 

Senator Biden was very sharp in answering the questions while he made the distinction what Obama-Biden Administration would do differently.  The Iraq War issue also dominated the debate and so did Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The point of reference was al-Qaeda leadership, Talibans, and resurgence of extremism in that part of the world.  The nuclearization of Iran and its impact on Israel was also discussed in the debate but there were no major disagreements between the two camps.             

 

In summary, there were no major mishaps by Sarah Palin or Joe Biden as they sparred over many domestic and foreign policy issues.  Both were coached well.  Ms. Palin had to prove her worth, which she did to assure the evangelical "base."  The CNN did some polling as the debate was going on.  The verdict from the polling gave Joe Biden an edge over Sarah Palin (51% over 38%).  In my view, the Republican candidate, Ms. Palin, evaded some questions.  She was less focused but she did energize the Republican "base" by speaking common men's term and their vocabulary.  Joe Biden did what he was supposed to do.  Senator Obama should congratulate his running mate for not making any major mistakes.  Biden was very forceful and he defended the records of Senator Obama quite well.  All eyes will now be focused on the next presidential debate, which is slated for October 7 when Obama and McCain will face each other at the campus of Belmont University in Nashville.
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Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA

 

 

 

             

 

 

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