Obama, McCain Clash On Troubled Economy

Candidates Trade Barbs Over Causes, Cures For Worst Economic Crisis In 80 Years In Town Hall Debate

(CBS/ AP)  Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama engaged in sharp exchanges on the faltering U.S. economy Tuesday night in the second presidential debate.

Neither man landed a knockout punch and neither man committed a major gaffe.

"This one was as close to being a draw as I've seen," said CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer. "I don't think anybody won on substance. It was a very civil debate."

Added CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs: "Both candidates were well-prepared to talk about the overwhelming issue concerning voters - the economy - but between the finger-pointing and platitudes, there was no knockout winner in tonight's event, something that bodes well for the front-running Obama." (Read more analysis from Ververs)

A CBS News instant poll of uncommitted voters gave the nod to Obama by a margin of 40-26 percent. Thirty-four percent thought the debate to be a draw. Seventy percent of these voters remain uncommitted. Twelve percent have decided to support McCain, and 15 percent Obama. (Read more from the poll)

The 90-minute encounter at Belmont University was moderated by NBC's Tom Brokaw and included questions on both foreign and domestic policy raised by the audience and voters participating through the Internet.

As the debate began, McCain called for a sweeping $300 billion program to shield homeowners from mortgage foreclosure.

"It's my proposal. It's not Sen. Obama's proposal," McCain said at the outset of a debate he hoped could revive his fortunes in a presidential race trending toward his rival.

In one pointed confrontation on foreign policy, Obama bluntly challenged McCain's steadiness. "This is a guy who sang bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, who called for the annihilation of North Korea - that I don't think is an example of speaking softly."

He spoke after McCain accused him of foolishly threatening to invade Pakistan and said, "I'm not going to telegraph my punches which is what Sen. Obama did." (Read a full transcript of the debate.)

The debate was the second of three between the two major party rivals, and the only one to feature a format in which voters seated a few feet away posed questions to the candidates.

"It's good to be with you at a town hall meeting," McCain jabbed at his rival, who has spurned the Republican's calls for numerous such joint appearances across the fall campaign.

They debated on a stage at Belmont University four weeks before Election Day in a race that has lately favored Obama, both in national polls and in surveys in pivotal battleground states.

Not surprisingly, many of the questions dealt with an economy in trouble.

Obama said the current crisis was the "final verdict on the failed economic policies of the last eight years" that President Bush pursued and were "supported by Sen. McCain."

He contended that Bush, McCain and others had favored deregulation of the financial industry, predicting that would "let markets run wild and prosperity would rain down on all of us. It didn't happen."

McCain's pledge to have the government help individual homeowners avoid foreclosure went considerably beyond the $700 billion bailout that recently cleared Congress.

"I would order the secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes at the diminished value of those homes and let people be able to make those payments and stay in their homes," he said.

"Is it expensive? Yes. But we all know, my friends, until we stabilize home values in America, we're never going to start turning around and creating jobs and fixing our economy, and we've got to get some trust and confidence back to America."

McCain also said it was important to reform the giant benefit programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

"My friends, we are not going to be able to provide the same benefit for present-day workers that present-day retirees have today," he said, although he did not elaborate.

The two men also competed to demonstrate their qualifications as reformers at a time voters are clamoring for change.

McCain accused Obama of being the Senate's second-highest recipient of donations from individuals at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two now-disgraced mortgage industry giants.

"There were some of us who stood up against this," McCain said of the lead-up to the financial crisis. "There were others who took a hike."

Obama shot back that McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, has a stake in a Washington lobbying firm that received thousands of dollars a month from Freddie Mac until recently.

Pivoting quickly to show his concern with members of the audience listening from a few feet away, he said, "You're not interested in politicians pointing fingers. You're interested in the impact on you."

But that didn't stop the two men from criticizing one another repeatedly as the topics turned to energy, spending, taxes and health care.

They were polite, but the strain of the campaign showed. At one point, McCain referred to Obama as "that one," rather than speaking his name.

Obama said McCain was going to require taxes on the health benefits workers receive from their employers at the same time his plan would wipe out the ability of states to enforce their own regulations to require tests such as mammograms.

McCain countered that under his rival's plan "Sen. Obama will fine you" if parents fail to obtain coverage for their children but had yet to say what the fine would be. "Perhaps we will find that out tonight," he said.

Obama quickly followed up, saying that McCain "voted against the expansion" of the children's health care program the government runs.

The two men prefer dramatically different approaches to easing the problem of millions of uninsured Americans. McCain favors a $5,000 tax credit that he says would allow families to find and afford health care on their own.

Obama wants to build on the current system, in which millions receive coverage through the workplace, with government funding to help uninsured families obtain coverage.

The debate also veered into foreign policy, and the disputes were as intense as on the economy and domestic matters.

McCain said his rival "was wrong about Iraq and the surge. He was wrong about Russia when they committed aggression against Georgia. And in his short career he does not understand our national security challenges. We don't have time for on the job training."

Obama countered with a trace of sarcasm that he didn't understand some things - like how the United States could face the challenge in does in Afghanistan after spending years and hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq.

The debate was being held at a time most Americans have a dismal view of the country's direction.

A Gallup Poll released Tuesday showed just 9 percent say they're satisfied with the way things are going, the lowest ever recorded in the 29 years Gallup has asked the question. Asked to name the country's major problem, 69 percent said the economy. Next closest: 11 percent cited the Iraq war.

[rhs648]

The big economic bailout passed by Congress and signed by the president last week had an attachment. Part of the bill said insurance companies must now cover mental health and substance abuse services on "parity" with medical and surgical treatments.

Under the bill, which goes into effect in 2010, group insurance plans that cover mental illness already must now equalize its value with medical and surgical coverage. The number of covered visits, the cost of copays, and the total value of treatment covered each year would have to be on par.

Posted by mairin27

Great! Now we will see our premiums go up again. This is just another hidden tax. Government mandates simply drive up the cost of health insurance for all of us. Men don''t need mammograms. However, the cost of insurance for mammograms is shared by all men now that it is required that insurance pay for them.

[mairin27]

You see, there lies YOUR little problem, mairin27, what I''''''''m posting are FACTS!

Your NOT posting FACTS!! Your Posting Believes because of what Ayers has said. You have NO physical Evidence to prove that Obama was engaged in any Terrorist Acts Or any Training camps. That''''s FACT
Posted by dj282008 at 12:47 PM : Oct 09, 2008

I agree and when GetReal/Stormy Texan/Rowdy is asked to provide "facts" what you get is childish name calling, insults and slurs.

Why has GetReal/Stormy Texan/Rowdy changed her screen name so often? Hmmm?

She is disturbed. Lucky for her the following bill passed yesterday. I strongly suggest she take advantage of it:
Oct. 8, 2008 - A new law could boost insurance coverage for many Americans in need of mental health and substance abuse treatment.

The big economic bailout passed by Congress and signed by the president last week had an attachment. Part of the bill said insurance companies must now cover mental health and substance abuse services on "parity" with medical and surgical treatments.

Under the bill, which goes into effect in 2010, group insurance plans that cover mental illness already must now equalize its value with medical and surgical coverage. The number of covered visits, the cost of copays, and the total value of treatment covered each year would have to be on par.

[dj282008]

You see, there lies YOUR little problem, mairin27, what I''''m posting are FACTS!


Your NOT posting FACTS!! Your Posting Believes because of what Ayers has said. You have NO physical Evidence to prove that Obama was engaged in any Terrorist Acts Or any Training camps. That''s FACT

[mairin27]

You suffer from several psychiatric disorders:
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Posted by mairin27 at 11:17 PM : Oct 08, 2008

You see, there lies YOUR little problem, mairin27, what I''''m posting are FACTS!

Now I KNOW that you Obama honkers can''''t stand the TRUTH or FACTS! It might burst your little Obama honking bubble...

The problem is, you can''''t re-write Obama''''s history to suit you, and make him an honorable man, a trustworthy man, or a man who make a good president!

IT AIN''''T GONNA HAPPEN AS LONG AS THE TRUTH IS AVAIALBLE FOR ANYONE TO READ IT!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by GetRealTex at 09:17 AM : Oct 09, 2008

You have posted no facts about how Mr. Obama would turn the country communist or socialist if elected president. How exactly would he do this? Again keeping in mind that there are 3 branches of the government, which includes Repubs. Do you think he will round up and arrest all Repubs, send them to Gulags?

I am not talking about Obama''s history. I have specifically asked you how you think Mr. Obama will accomplish turning the country communist or socialist. But since you can''t provide a logical explanation to this question you RANT about a different subject.

So here again I ask how would Mr. Obama turn the country communist or socialist? If you can''t provide a logical explanation on how this would occur then your claims can''t be validated.

There are a great many posts here claiming one thing or another about what the candidates have done or believe without links to the relevant information on which these claims are based. Where/who are your sources? Anyone with even the slightest amount of intelligence should regard unsubstantiated claims as worthless trash.

[mrathell]

what about McCain serving and working alongside people with virulent bigoted pasts like Sens. Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd?Do we have evidence that these individuals committed specific acts against African-Americans during Jim Crow? No. But we do know that their hateful words, and willingness to uphold laws that were absolutely anti-American, did not represent the best of this nation. Thurmond ran for president as a Dixiecrat in 1948 with a platform of maintaining segregation. Based on Helms'' policies, he didn''t see blacks as full Americans.So, did McCain work with them? Did he not speak with them? Should McCain have declared that he would not work alongside these men because of their past? Should the self-described maverick who believes in integrity and character have taken the honorable stance of resigning from the Senate to protest these hateful characters serving in the U.S. Senate?No. And this is why this association argument is so weak and impotent.For goodness'' sakes, Byrd was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan, a domestic terrorist organization!

[mairin27]

Posted by mairin27 at 10:56 PM : Oct 08, 2008

I don''''t hate myself at all, but I do hate the machinations and corruptness of one Barak Obama a true Chicago mafia CAPO!

I suggest you run out and make an appointment with your counselor yourself. Use up that good new insurace plan you''''ve got! You need some dumb and dumber treatment FAST!

Posted by GetRealTex at 11:01 PM : Oct 08, 2008

You suffer from several psychiatric disorders:
1)Projection- attributing one''s own unacknowledged feelings to others; includes severe prejudice, severe jealousy, hypervigilance to external danger, and "injustice collecting". (Remember that projection is a primitive form of paranoia, so it is common in today''s world)
2)Immaturity - used in childhood and adolescence, but mostly abandoned by adulthood, since they lead to socially unacceptable behavior and/or prevent the adult from optimal coping with reality
3)Distortion - a gross reshaping of external reality to meet internal needs delusion is an unshakable belief in something untrue. These irrational beliefs defy normal reasoning, and remain firm even when overwhelming proof is presented to dispute them.
4)Delusion disorder- is an unshakable belief in something untrue. These irrational beliefs defy normal reasoning, and remain firm even when
overwhelming proof is presented to dispute them.
5) Self-loathing

[mairin27]

Please give me a break from your squawking!

Posted by GetRealTex at 10:19 PM : Oct 08, 2008
+ report abuse

Sorry you are deluded. Most of that sqawking is coming from the voices in your own head. But good new for you.
Oct. 8, 2008 - A new law could boost insurance coverage for many Americans in need of mental health and substance abuse treatment.

The big economic bailout passed by Congress and signed by the president last week had an attachment. Part of the bill said insurance companies must now cover mental health and substance abuse services on "parity" with medical and surgical treatments.

Under the bill, which goes into effect in 2010, group insurance plans that cover mental illness already must now equalize its value with medical and surgical coverage. The number of covered visits, the cost of copays, and the total value of treatment covered each year would have to be on par.

I suggest you make use of this new bill and go get some mental health care.

You must really hate yourself. Self loathing turned outwards on others...Why do you hate yourself so much?

[dibs977]

Obama has written books which give great detail about his life and feelings. He is an open book and he is a great man who will lead us to prosperity and peace.

[dibs977]

Bush ruined our economy. He and his friends are still doing quite well, however.