Washblog || Health Care Hits Debate and "The Grumpy Old Man" Factor

Health Care Hits Debate and "The Grumpy Old Man" Factor

By The Country Doc
Sat Sep 27, 2008 at 05:39:36 AM PST
Section: Diary Topic: Election news/info

With the recent economic crisis the door to domestic issues was opened during the first presidential debate and with this came health care. The answers were predictable, but showed a clear difference between McCain and Obama.

Obama appealed to the middle class by noting a recent report showing insurance deductibles have increased by 30% and the number of Americans filing for bankruptcy due to medical bills is on the rise. He also noted McCain's hidden tax of worker's benefits as was discussed in Bob Herbert's New York Times article. He called for health insurance companies to stop recieving a $15 billion dollar Medicare subsidy. After this barrage, McCain could only back peddle and pull out that ol' Republican health care standard, "I want to make sure we're not handing the health care system over to the federal government which is basically what would ultimately happen with Senator Obama's health care plan." No one mentioned a government take over of health care. No one mentioned a single payer insurance system. He should have read my blog entry about how socialized medicine is already here before pulling this Hail Mary out.

Early polls on CNN following the debate showed 51% of those surveyed thought Obama won compared to 38% for McCain. Obama certainly stood toe to toe with his oppenent on McCain's home turf of foreign policy, but I was even surprised to see Obama take McCain to the woodshed like this. In addition Obama showing that he can pass muster in this area, I think much of this can be ascribed to the "grumpy old man factor." During much of the Republican appeared annoyed and irritated with his younger opponent. He never looked at him in the eye, constantly smirked, and at times made some awkward faces that looked almost painful. It brought back past debates of Kennedy vs Nixon, Dole vs Clinton, and even the "who do you want to have a beer with factor?" of Bush vs. Gore and Kerry.

While most agree there weren't any "bell ringers" or "game changers" in the debate it still served its purpose in showing two very different candidates. I have a feeling we're just getting warmed up here.

< Jason Osgood's new ad is out! | Yes, Rhetorically, I Agree With The House Republicans. No, There Is No Need For Panic. >

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