VP candidates fulfill expectations

Despite countless media jabs predicting the worst, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s preparation seemed to pay off as she and Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) went head-to-head in the most anticipated debate of this election cycle.

Falling into their predicted roles in the debate, Biden established himself as the veteran by welcoming Palin with a “Nice to meet you,” while Palin painted herself as someone free of Washington influence and in touch with the feelings of mainstream America by using an anecdote involving soccer moms to stress the dire state of the country’s economy.

The economy dominated the first segment of the debate as each candidate aligned with his or her party’s traditional economical views. Biden advocated for middle class tax cuts, while Palin defended tax cuts for corporations.

Turning to foreign policy, Biden focused on Pakistan’s threat as a nuclear power.
Palin, although agreeing that Pakistan posed a global threat with a nuclear weapon, emphasized the recent military successes in Iraq.

Additionally Palin, like Senator John McCain in last week’s presidential debate, chose to focus on Senator Barack Obama’s willingness to sit down with Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling his action “outright dangerous” and “beyond bad judgment.”

Biden provided a rebuttal by attacking McCain and saying that he wouldn’t sit down with the government of Spain, a NATO ally.

Not surprisingly, the war in Iraq proved to be a heated debate topic tonight.
Biden criticized McCain’s war strategy, saying, “For John McCain, there is no end in sight to end this war.”

Equally perturbed by the Democrat ticket’s strategy, Palin said, “Your plan is a white flag of surrender.”

Claiming that their positions on global warming represented the most fundamental difference between his ticket and McCain and Palin’s, Biden said that global warming is undoubtedly man-made. Palin said she did not want to argue the cause and chose instead to propose solutions through domestic energy production.

“Energy independence is the key to our nation’s future, to our economic future and our national security,” Palin said.

Throughout the debate, both candidates depicted themselves as in touch with the country’s middle class, alluding to their families and their small-town backgrounds.

Palin continuously referened her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, even mentioning her brother’s third grade class when prompted about her education plan.

Biden talked about his hometown of Scranton and the economic struggles his family faced as a child.

In arguably the most anticipated question of the debate, moderator Gwen Ifill quoted the cliché “The next vice-president is a heartbeat away from being president,” and asked each candidate what he or she would do if they unexpectedly became president.

Biden said that he would carry out Obama’s plans and most importantly work to reinstate the middle class. He elaborated on that statement, saying that he would not follow the lead of Vice President Dick Cheney.

“Vice President Cheney has probably been the most dangerous vice president in this nation’s history,” Biden said.

Palin delivered a similar answer but joked that she and McCain have their differences.
“What do you expect of a team of mavericks? Of course, we are not going to agree on everything,” she said. “He has never asked me to check my opinions at the door.”

Throughout the debate, however, the message from both parties was that these next four years would have to place the American people first.

“And at the end of the day,” Palin said, “as long as we’re all working for the greater good, it’s going to be okay.”

Comments

1 comments

Lisa

Fri Oct 3 2008 08:09

Great article!

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