Who Lost The First Presidential Debate? The Middle Class
Honestly, besides the fact that Obama came off as unflappable, gracious, and intelligent while McCain came off as dismissive and petty, as this ad from the Obama campaign points out, the middle class was the bit loser in last night’s debate. Only one candidate seemed to think the middle class was worth mentioning. The ad is called “Zero.”
Now watch this clip from the debate:
From the CSPAN transcript:
But let’s be clear: earmarks account for $18 billion in last year’s budget. Senator McCain is proposing — and this is a fundamental difference between us — $300 billion in tax cuts to some of the wealthiest corporations and individuals in the country, $300 billion. Now, $18 billion is important; $300 billion is really important. And in his tax plan, you would have CEOs of Fortune 500 companies getting an average of $700,000 in reduced taxes, while leaving 100 million Americans out.So my attitude is we’ve got to grow the economy from the bottom up. What I’ve called for is a tax cut for 95 percent of working families, 95 percent.And that means that the ordinary American out there who’s collecting a paycheck every day — they’ve got a little extra money to be able tobuy a computer for their kid, to fill up on this gas that is killing them. And over time that, I think, is going to be a better recipe for economic growth than the — the policies of — of President Bush that John McCain wants to — wants to follow.
“We’ve got to grow the economy from the bottom up.” Someone at the Cathexes tech policy event on Tuesday that a good tag line for the Obama campaign could be “trickle up.” You can see that philosophy in the clip. You could also see during the debate that McCain is still a firm “trickle down” guy. As if the past 25 years of history have shown us nothing.
I found this to be McCain’s most Bush-like moment:
I’m the sheriff! It’s like he’s five years old. Yuck.
I think this was a very clear moment in which Obama was probably able to connect with middle class voters:
Transcript:
My — here’s what I can tell the American people: 95 percent of you will get a tax cut. And if you make less than $250,000 — less than a quarter-million dollars a year — then you will not see one dime’s worth of tax increase. Now, John mentioned the fact that business taxes on paper are high in this country, and he’s absolutely right. Here’s the problem: There are so many loopholes that have been written into the tax code, oftentimes with support of Senator McCain, that we actually see our businesses pay effectively one of the lowest tax rates in the world. And what that means, then, is that there are people out there who are working every day who are not getting a tax cut, and you want to give them more. It’s not like you want to close the loopholes. You just want to add an additional tax cut over the loopholes, and that’s a problem. Just one last point I want to make. Senator McCain talked about providing a $5,000 health credit. Now, what he doesn’t tell you is that he intends to, for the first time in history, tax health benefits. So you may end up getting a $5,000 tax credit. Here’s the only problem: Your employer now has to pay taxes on the health care that you’re getting from your employer, and if you end up losing your health care from your employer, you’ve got to go out on the open market and try to buy it. It is not a good deal for the American people, but it’s an example of this notion that the market can always solve everything and that the less regulation we have the better off we’re going to be.
Man, the CSPAN Debate Hub features are awesome.
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This was definitely one of Obama’s stronger showings in the last few months; to see him giving direct answers, while McCain relied on spouting that he’s a “Maverick” and not “Miss Congeniality” really just shows who actually has a plan for the economy.
Now if only McCain’s involvement in the Keating Five/ Savings and Loan Crisis were being reported more, I think voters would be even more weary of McCain’s economic entanglements.