In-Depth Debate Analysis: Part III

This is the third and final installment of debate analysis. This section covering the last questions asked in last Friday’s debate.

Question: How do you see the relationship with Russia? Competitor? Enemy? Potential Partner?

Barack Obama speaks first. An aggressive and resurgent Russia is a threat to peace and stability in the region. The attack on Georgia was unacceptable. Russia needs to abide the cease-fire, and get out of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia cannot act be a 21st century power with a 20th century mindset. We need to let the smaller nations near Russia, NATO allies all, that we will be behind them. We must insist that Georgia and the Ukraine be given a shot at joining NATO. Russia has 15,000 warheads, and has the capacity to make 40,000 more, and Al-Qaeda could potentially get their hands on one. You don’t deal with Russia by staring in it’s leaders eyes and looking into his soul.

John McCain said that Barack Obama said that both sides in the South Ossetian War “ought to show restraint”, and called him naive…again. He called Russia a KGB apparatchik-run government. Then said he looked in Putin’s eyes and he saw 3 letters, a K, a B, and a G. He mentioned oil in Georgia, implying that that is the reason Russia went in…despite the fact they never got to either Georgian pipeline. He said that Russia needs to follow the cease fire agreement. He seemingly also took up prognostication here, saying we should watch the Ukraine, implying that he thinks the Russians will move next militarily there.

Barack Obama got a long response in here, and a long ranging one as well. He reiterated his first call on the South Ossetian War was illegal and objectionable, and called for a cessation to violence, and put through a bill to give $1,000,000,000 to Georgia to help rebuild that war torn nation. Barack said that he warned the administration about Russian peacekeepers in Georgia. He thought it odd, and told the Administration as much, and that those Russians needed to be replaced with International peacekeepers, but that they didn’t listen. McCain had mentioned Oil in Georgia, so Obama responded with an answer about our own oil addiction, that all the offshore drilling we can do won’t bring us energy independence, and called for us to look for alternative energy sources so we won’t be at the mercy of our enemies for oil that runs through their nations.

It went tit-for-tat on energy after that, for about a minute, and then the last Question of the night was asked.

Final Question: What do you think the likelihood of another 9/11 type attack on the United States?

John McCain went first. He said it was much less now than the day after 9/11, but we are a long way from safe. He said that he, along with Sen. Lieberman called for the 9/11 commission. And that he was stymied by the administration until the families of the victims of 9/11 came to Washington and got things moving. He worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get more than 40 of the recommendations that commission brought up. We have a long way to go in our intelligence services, and then he made a rather startling statement, one that implies that the American government had in fact tortured prisoners, saying we need to have “trained interrogators so we don’t ever torture a prisoner ever again”. He spoke of a need for increased need for technological and intelligence capabilities. He said that the recommendation caused the largest reorganization in government since the establishment of the Defense department in 1947. He mentioned border security lastly.

Barack Obama said that we are in some ways safer, having sunk billions into airport security and in securing potential terrorists targets, but there is need for more work. He said our ports are in need of protection, and our transit infrastructure is vulnerable, and that our chemical sites need hardening. Barack said the main issue was nuclear proliferation, that terrorists must be stopped from getting nukes, and then adding we spend billions on missile defense, which is necessary, but stopping nuclear proliferation is an additional burden that must be met. He said we are the greatest nation on Earth, but that he will work to improve America’s standing in the world, noting that we are less respected as a power now than we were 4 or 8 years ago.

The final exchange of the night started with McCain talking about Missile defense and SDI, the Reagan era missile shield, and claimed that Barack Obama was naive for what must have been the 12th time, and then brought the conversation back to Iraq. Barack seemed a bit amused by this and said that McCain and Bush had been focused solely on Iraq, while leaving Osama Bin Laden free, and this has in turn weakened our standing in the world. John McCain with his last few statements talked about Russia, and veterans affairs. Barack ended his portion of the debate with a call to bring America back it’s standing in the world, and a commitment to education, and talk of his family, and the American Dream. John talked about knowing how to heal the wounds of war, and knowing how to deal with our friends and adversaries.

And it was done. WHEW!

Now I have to tell you, for all that a lot of pundits think this was a fairly close and even match, I cannot entirely agree. Yes, John McCain landed some solid blows, yes he made some points, but not one point that he made about Barack Obama went unchallenged and unrefuted. I cannot say the same thing about Sen. McCain. There were times when the Senior Senator from Arizona looked like a fool, between his talk of short North Koreans, or his inability to make any accusation made against Sen. Obama stick, to losing points by not looking his opponent in the eye, when he claims to have looked Putin in the Eye and seen the KGB Logo, the man was, to be honest, a bit flat.

John McCain was strongest when attacking Barack Obama personally, but those attacks usually came in the form of simply calling the man naive. That was stupid, a tactical blunder. Every time he did that he put his foot in his mouth, because he was proven wrong on those very grounds, time and again. He tried to paint Barack Obama as inexperienced and came away empty handed every time he made the attempt.

Barack Obama on the other hand, came off as more than the “professorial” speaker he has been touted to be, but less than the man who spoke on the rostrum in Denver at Mile High stadium late in august. He is clearly a better speaker with a teleprompter than live and unscripted, but he is more than a match for the Bombastic and slightly off-kilter John McCain.

Obama wins in my estimation. That’s just me though. What do you think? Anything in this INSANELY long debate analysis bother you? Anything I said that was off base in your Opinion? Is there something I missed? Drop me a Line and Let me Know!

Uncle Mikey

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First, the Basics. We have 3 sides here. Georgia, South Ossetia, and Russia. South Ossetia is a province in the nation of Georgia that has been trying to break away from Georgia for the better part of 18 years. It has declared independence, along with an area called Abkhazia. This independence has not been diplomatically recognized by any nation. For a history of the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict, click here.

The Beginning of this Conflict is Kind of Murky. Both sides claim the other started shooting first. At this point it doesn’t really matter, because what started out as dueling sniper fire now has thousands of combatants, and is drawing the increasing ire of a great many nations, calling for an immediate cease fire. A few selected statements:

President Bush said on Monday:

“Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century,”

From this Report from Reuters there was also a statement from a “Senior U.S. official” that this looked like it had been planned out by the Russians for some time.

Great Britain’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown on Sunday said:

We will continue to press for international action to help bring this conflict to an end, and we urge both parties to agree an immediate ceasefire.”

Almost All the nations of the G-8, Which include not just the Two above-mentioned nations, but Japan, Germany, Canada, Italy and France, are also calling for International mediation over the growing crisis. Notice I said Almost. Russia was noticeably absent here.

I do not know how much you know about this place, I am only really learning about it myself, But there are a few things that strike me here. Vladimir Putin is quoted as saying that this war will be taken to it’s “logical conclusion”, and that there are two very profitable oil Pipelines, The Baku-Supsa and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, that run through Georgia.

Can you say war for oil? It is being talked about. One or two more fast facts.

Russia moved 5 battalions of the 58th Army to the Russia/Georgia Border several days before The Georgians began their all out assault on South Ossetia, when this was still just a few snipers on both sides going at it.

The United States has airlifted the Georgian troops that were serving with us in Iraq directly to Georgia after the Russians Invaded.

Word that I am getting is that the Georgians have pulled back, but that the Russians have not.

For their Part, both Barack Obama and John McCain have also joined the chorus of voices around the world calling for a cease fire. Both men have spoken to Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Georgia and issued terse statements condemning the war. Read them for yourself. First from McCain:

“Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin must understand the severe, long-term negative consequences that their government’s actions will have for Russia’s relationship with the U.S. and Europe,”

Barack Obama makes an even stronger statement:

Russia has escalated its military campaign through strategic bombing and the movement of its ground forces into the heart of Georgia. There is no possible justification for these attacks.
I reiterate my call for Russia to stop its bombing campaign, to stop flights of Russian aircraft in Georgian airspace, and to withdraw its ground forces from Georgia. The Georgian government has proposed a cease-fire and the Russian government should accept it.

A Video for you, from the scene.

The Questions I think need to be asked are as follows. Do the Candidates statements have any real meaning outside the campaign trail? Do you think the world is really listening to them? They are still only senators after all.

Do you think this conflict could possibly draw the United States into it on the side of Georgia?

There are reports that have the Georgians opening fire on civilians, and even aid workers in the area, and killing Hundreds and possibly over 1,000 people, and of Russians doing the same, firing rockets, mortars and small arms at Georgian civilians, and of doing this for the Oil and not for the South Ossetians. Is there really any such thing as a good guy here, or in any war for that matter? Can there be?

Could the old Cold War, once dead, come back to life, and become Hot? I want to hear from you!

Uncle Mikey

Story Edit ETA 9:00A.M. 8/12 : Russia orders halt to fighting: Georgia Skeptical