[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: The Final Debate

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The Final Debate

October 14, 2004
 


 

The mission of last night's presidential debate was to
engage George Bush and John Kerry in a discussion of
"domestic issues" - a grab bag of topics that included both
questions of money, like taxes and trade, and matters of
morals, like abortion and gay marriage. Mr. Bush, however,
tends to regard even policy choices as matters of faith.
The numbers on his Social Security plan may never add up;
last night, when asked about the $2 trillion hole in the
proposal, he simply ignored the question. But to the
president, all of his initiatives are success stories, and
the devil take the details. 

Mr. Bush took every possible opportunity to note that Mr.
Kerry was once rated by a magazine as the most liberal
senator and is from Massachusetts. Mr. Kerry, for his part,
seemed to be vying to see how many times he could mention
that Mr. Bush was the first president in 72 years to
preside over an economy that has lost jobs. In a way, those
efforts summarized the entire evening. Listeners certainly
came away knowing that Mr. Kerry was a liberal senator and
that under Mr. Bush, working people have fared poorly. The
election may depend on which they decide is worse. 

Mr. Kerry, who has been trying for the entire campaign to
get people to pay attention to his health care plan, got
the chance to talk about it last night, and he did a good,
succinct job of explaining his idea. (The Kerry campaign
may want to consider carrying that two-minute light
everywhere.) Mr. Bush described the plan, which centers on
making it easier for businesses to provide insurance for
their employees, as a government hydra that would usurp
people's right to pick their own doctors. 

For the most part, both men seemed blessedly reasonable
when talking about trade issues. Mr. Bush was passionate in
his discussions about his No Child Left Behind program - so
much so that, as Mr. Kerry pointed out, the president
tended to talk about that even when the question was about
the economy, illegal immigration, unemployment or
affirmative action. 

For Mr. Kerry, one of the best pieces of news was his
strong performance on social issues. When the argument
turns to abortion, the president's avowal that he "supports
life" has generally sounded clear and sincere, while Mr.
Kerry has sometimes sounded like a man who is trying
desperately to obscure positions he believes are unpopular.
But last night Mr. Kerry sometimes came close to eloquence
when talking about homosexuality, and about his own
determination to separate his Catholic faith from his
responsibilities as a policy maker. 

The president refused to accept any responsibility for the
lapse of the ban on assault weapons and completely dodged
the question of whether he wanted to see the Supreme Court
reverse Roe v. Wade, while Mr. Kerry gave strong responses
to both questions. "I believe that the right of choice is a
constitutional right," he said. "So I don't intend to see
it undone." 

The campaign's debate season began with wide doubt about
the usefulness of encounters that were so completely
scripted by lawyers and handlers that it seemed unlikely
the public could learn anything. But the result has been
much better than expected. 

True, both men tried to score cheap shots, and they hewed
to their talking points even when their answers didn't
quite fit the topic. (When the question concerned the
shortage of flu shots, Mr. Bush talked about the evils of
trial lawyers, and Mr. Kerry talked about the lack of
health insurance.) But it's hard to believe that anyone who
watched with attention didn't come away with a good handle
on who John Kerry and George Bush are, what they believe,
and how they would approach running the country. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/opinion/14thu1.html?ex=1098778764&ei=1&en=d3fc72adb2b7808e


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