The dust from the first debate has settled and several things have become clear. First and foremost, as I touched on last night before the debate, almost clairvoyantly, McCain's temperament was perhaps his biggest downfall last night. At times, the Senator from Arizona would grunt and gesture awkwardly with his hands; his face often was shown on national television displaying disturbing expressions. Moreover, McCain's dismissive attitude toward Obama, although surely making Republicans smile, might not play so well in this country with the undecided voters who will decide this election; indeed, several focus groups conducted during and after the debate showed that Obama won the debate by a significant margin among undecideds and that McCain's attacks labeling Obama as "naive" and "unprepared" were among the audience's least favorite moments of the entire hour and a half.
As far as who won the debate, it truly is in the eye of the beholder. For my money, for whatever it's worth, Obama won by a landslide; he appeared Presidential; he had complete dominance over the economic portion of the debate; he demonstrated a great volume of knowledge on foreign affairs, and most importantly, he kept his cool.
Fact Check Time: As with any debate, one or both of the candidates end up lying on their or the other's records. Last night was no different. Here are some of those moments along with the fact checking.
Charge: One of the most memorable moments was the exchange between the two candidates on former Secretary of State and current McCain adviser, Henry Kissinger. Obama claimed that Kissinger encouraged meetings with foreign leaders without preconditions; McCain said Kissinger would never suggest such a thing.
Facts: At a forum last Saturday with former Secretaries of State, Henry Kissinger agreed with the other former Secretaries and said:
"I am in favor of negotiating with Iran....What is it going to do if we can't achieve what we're talking about? But I do not believe that we can make conditions for the opening of negotiations. We ought, however, to be very clear about the content of negotiations and work it out with other countries and with our own government."
Charge: Another moment of contention was when Obama charged that McCain's plan wold give $4 billion in tax breaks to oil companies. McCain attempted to dodge the charge. Here are the facts as reported by the Associated Press:
Facts: "The $4 billion in tax breaks for the oil companies is simply part of McCain's overall corporate tax reduction plan and does not represent an additional tax benefit. In other words, the corporate tax reduction applies to all corporations, oil companies included."
Charge: McCain and Obama argued over whether or not Obama voted to cut off funding for U.S. troops. Here are the facts, again as reported by the AP:
Facts:
"Despite opposing the war, Obama has, with one exception, voted for Iraq troop financing. In 2007, he voted against a troop funding bill because it did not contain language calling for a troop withdrawal. The Illinois senator backed another bill that had such language and money for the troops."
Charge: At one point in the debate, McCain claimed that Dwight Eisenhower wrote a resignation letter on the eve of D-Day to be sent if the invasion did not go well. The AP has the facts:
Facts: Eisenhower prepared to take responsibility in the note to be delivered in the event of D-Day disaster but did not offer to resign.
