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To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. But I’m not disappointed in the candidates; I’m disappointed in America and our media outlets.
In the beginning I wanted Hillary to get the nomination and was very upset when Obama got it then appointed Biden as his vice. I watched this debate to decide if the right choice had been made by Obama. I was pleasantly surprised by Biden’s answers and responses. He proved to me that yes, he is ready for the job.
For the most part both candidates came out as I expected, with a few exceptions.
Biden has not been in Washington for as long as he has by failing to prove himself. He is a consummate politician in many ways, and he does seem to always remember where his position comes from. The people. He connects with voters on their level and only makes promises he can try to keep. He’s gone through the everyday ups and down of the average man on the street and does not shy away from those issues that affect so many of us every day. Not long ago it would have been seen as a farce or a weakness for him to choke up when talking about the loss of his wife and daughter. Instead it came across as compassionate and real.
Palin on the other hand shied away from anything that would make her look like more of an everyday woman, in my opinion. Unless she was being “folksy” and adorable she wasn’t hitting on anything that made me feel a lot of confidence in her abilities.
She seemed plastic and artificial in most cases, even when she was trying to be adorable. She has a special needs child, and a daughter who’s in a difficult situation. By choosing to separate these things from herself during this campaign and during the debates I think she actually harmed how the average family sees her.
During the debates on healthcare she never once mentioned her understanding of the struggle of a family dealing with special needs. As a member of a large and close knit family with three children with special needs I would have liked to have heard more about her life experience with these issues.
Biden on the other hand refused to shy away from his own issues and used them as a platform as to exactly why he understands the day to day grind of the average parent. More and more families are single parent households. We usually attribute this to single moms, but the reality is that the numbers of women leaving families behind are becoming higher and higher.
Instances of post partum depression, failure to get health care when a problem arises, and unfortunate accidents are leaving just as many single dads out there as single moms. Biden incorporated his own experiences into his responses. Honestly, I often forget that the hard bitten Biden suffered such a tragedy. His choice to remind the rest of us of his practical life experience I thought was a plus for him.
Palin too often avoided answering any questions posed to her. In my opinion her propensity for looking directly at the camera seemed more like she was trying to remember her lines than any kind of reaching out as I’ve been hearing from the media.
During her responses I heard a lot of talking points but very little substance. She avoided laying out exact plans and instead seemed to revert to the same tired sound bites that the McCain campaign has been relying on since the beginning. When pressed to map out exact plans she would revert to bashing the Obama camp with drastic spins and, more than once, outright lies.
I did think that Biden did start trying too hard to wrap the McCain camp to the Bush policies by repeatedly pointing out the past. At the same time, Palin answered more than once that it didn’t matter who caused the problems it was the fixes that mattered. Unfortunately she never laid out any real fixes instead of her repeated overused rhetoric.
Her lack of empathy and understanding as it pertained to the past actions of the Bush administration and its hand in our current problems, including the environmental issues, bothered me. The adage that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it leapt to mind more than once as I listened to her.
On a more personal note it honestly scares me to think that Palin would be just a heartbeat away from one of the most powerful positions in the world. I do not agree with Biden on many levels and neither does Obama, but this turned out to be a positive in this instance. I now believe that Biden will be able to ground some of Obama’s more dreamy ideas and remind him of the more practical aspects of Washington. I also believe that Palin’s inexperience and lack of real listening skills when it comes to people who don’t agree with her would be a detriment to our nation.
Honestly I was insulted by the winks of Palin. Instead of seeming like a down home folksy type, she came across as condescending. It was just too much like the famous W smirk to me. She seemed more like Dick Cheney in a skirt than as someone who I’d want working for my country.
All in all I believe that Biden won the debate. After checking the facts of the points brought up by both parties I think that Palin got things completely wrong, while Biden used typical DC spin to make points. He showed his abilities as a debater, while she showed her abilities as a figurehead.
