Posted by
C. L. Palmer on Wednesday, October 08, 2008 8:19:17 AM
I know this sounds a bit cynical, but am I the only one who noticed just how alien the questions seemed to the people reading them? One woman literally had trouble pronouncing her own words. Excuse me? Isn't the point of a "town hall" forum that people get to choose their own questions and raise the kinds of issues that may not be getting a lot of attention? Wouldn't you have liked to hear about immigration, tariffs, and paying off the national debt? Wouldn't you have liked to hear about what kind of criteria each candidate would have for nominating someone to the Supreme Court? There would actually be some meat to that conversation. This debate seemed like a conversation not about whether or not we should be socialists, but just how fast we ought to travel in that direction. Even if Brokaw didn't write the questions, he certainly seemed to have picked the safest ones for Obama. It almost seems as if Barack had given him a pre-approved list of issues from which to choose, and he stuck to it. I mean, in any crowd you'll get some safe questions for Obama, but I'm sure at least one person asked about Jeremiah Wright. Somehow, I imagine Brokaw blowing his nose into that sheet of paper, or perhaps bringing it into the restroom with him.
McCain wants the government to buy up individual housing? Is he crazy? I know this runs contrary to most ofthe coventional wisdom, but low housing values are good for America. They make buying a home affordable for the rising generations. This artificial crest of home prices necesitated the kinds of idiots-only loans that got us into this whole mess. If we can keep housing affordable, well, people can afford it. Why are gas prices too high, but house prices too low? Yes, the banks were screwed over by the regulations and government policies that encouraged stupid loan practices (by the way, McCain should have taken that angle in the debate), but the net result, once we bail out the banks, is affordable housing. That's not really such a bad thing.
This debate only made me more confused as to whom I want to win. I'm afrid of what Obama might do, but more afraid that we'll never notice just how much over the precipice we are sliding until we hit bottom. Last night, McCain had the historic opportunity to explain how and why command economies (like Obama's health care plans would produce) have failed and always will. He opted instead for obscure finger pointing about votes no one really cares about or understands. And sadly, Sarah Palin wasn't there to bail him out.