Students Tune In For First Presidential Election Debate
By Emily Brown ‘12
News Reporter
On Friday, September 26th, presidential candidates Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain arrived at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi for their first formal debate, set to examine the candidates’ stances on foreign policy. The debate, moderated by Jim Lehrer, lasted about an hour and a half. The questions were focused on the economy and the United States’ relations with other countries, but according to History teacher Richard Stewart, a big question in the days leading up to the debate was if Senator McCain was even going to show up.
Last week, Senator McCain temporarily put his campaign on hold to focus on the financial crisis and intended to delay the debate until Congress had dealt with the economic crisis. McCain even considered staying in Washington to promote a $700 billion plan to stabilize the economy, but the Obama campaign refused to postpone the debate. Though the debate concentrated on foreign policy, questions regarding the faltering economy inevitably arose. Mr. Stewart said that because this presidential race is so close, many people would be watching the debates to finalize their voting decisions. In honor of the debate, the history department hosted Joe Ellis for the evening. Mr. Ellis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning history professor at Mount Holyoke College, has written several books including His Excellency, George Washington, which reached sixth place on the New York Times Bestseller List in its first week, and his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Founding Brothers.
The election has sparked the interest of current and future voters at Choate. “Needless to say, I am an advocate for Barack Obama and his aspirations for change,” states Olivia Jorgensen ’10. She supports Obama’s platform, which includes the withdrawal of troops from Iraq by the end of 2010, opposition of anti-abortion legalism and increased funding for family planning and sexual education. “[Obama’s] proposal to broaden Medicare and require that all children be covered is more realistic and useful than McCain’s idea to encourage people to buy individual, private health care plans instead of ones offered by their employers,” says Jorgensen.
Students seem to be more critical of McCain. Jeremy Davidson ’10 explains his opinion: “He picked Palin purely because she is a woman. McCain must sincerely believe that women are idiots and cannot tell the difference between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sarah Palin. Palin, not Obama, is a celebrity. Republicans claim that Obama is a celebrity, but they ignore the fact that Palin took second place in Miss Teen Alaska and won the Miss Wasilla Pageant.”
Many students have recognized the historical nature of this election. “Not only are we seeing a black man running against a small-town woman, but we are also seeing for the first time two sitting senators compete for office,” notes Jorgensen. No matter what the outcome of the debates and the final election is, the results are sure to be monumental.
