Washington: The first presidential debate in the US began with a handshake and a grin. Soon the gloves were off with Republican Senator John McCain and Democrat nominee Barack Obama ¤2 arguing over spending, taxes, energy and war.
The Moderator's opening question concerned the economic crisis gripping Wall Street. And while neither committed to supporting the $700 billion bailout legislation taking shape in Congress, they did agree that lawmakers needed to take action to prevent millions of Americans from losing their jobs and homes.
Obama said that the United States was facing its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression while McCain said he was encouraged that Republicans and Democrats were working together to solve the crisis.
The first question in the debate was about the economy, even though the focus of the debate is supposed to be on foreign policy.
The economy has dominated the campaign trail for the past two weeks.
Obama refused to be pinned down on whether he would support a $700 billion plan proposed by President Bush's top economic advisers, saying the final details of the proposal were not yet known. McCain said he hoped to be able to vote for it.
“$700 billion is a lot of money. Tax payers who are putting money at risk should get the benefit. None of the money should go to pad CEO's bank accounts. This is the final verdict of eight years of Bush government’s failed economic policies. Supported by Senator Mccain,” he said.
McCain said, “We need to cut down on spending. Washington is spending too much, completely out of control. We have now presided over the largest increase in the size of the government since the great society. We republicans came to change the government, but the government changed us.”
PAGE_BREAKIANS reports
Obama McCain also disagreed sharply over the Iraq war.
"You were wrong," Obama told McCain on the stage at the Univeristy of Mississippi.
"I'm afraid Senator Obama doesn't understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy," McCain shot back.
Both candidates blamed Bush for mismanaging the war following the ouster of Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003, but McCain touted the success of Bush's troop surge last year in bringing down violence in Iraq.
McCain noted that he had called for a troop buildup for years before Bush ordered it the so-called surge January 2007.
"This strategy has succeeded, and we are winning in Iraq," McCain said.
"John, you like to pretend that the war started in 2007," Obama said, noting that more than 4,000 US soldiers have died in the conflict on which the United States has spent nearly $1 trillion.
Obama and McCain held the first of three debates leading up to the Nov 4 general elections.
The discussion was intended to focus on foreign policy, considered a policy strength for McCain, a retired naval officer with more than 25 years in the Senate compared to less than four years for Obama.
But the two men also stated that they support Bush's $700-billion package to rescue the panicked financial sector, amid destabilized global stock markets and faltering credit conditions.
Comments
0 comment