Vice Presidential Debate

On October 2nd, 2008 at 9 p.m. was the most viewed Vice Presidential Debate ever. I happened to be a part of it. I found it pretty interesting. This is the first year that I have really payed any attention to politics and the election, mostly cause I can be a part of it. There were many different issues discussed during the debate, three of them really stuck out for me.

Obviously, with our current economic state, the economy was a big one. Biden really emphasized the focus on the middle class. He said how it drives the economy and right now its not doing so hot. Sarah Palin on the other hand said how people have become to fear the economy and that it needs to be reformed and John McCain will do that.

Another topic discussed was the environment. Palin thinks that we need to become more energy independant and that energy is key to the future. She felt that the change in climate is all natural but that the planet still needs to be cleaned up and related this to her experience in Alaska. In Biden's opinion everything thats happened to the environment is man made and that investing in new, clean energy will also create more jobs.

The final issue that stuck out for me was foreign policy. I did not know a whole lot about this before watching the debate. On the subject of the war, Biden said we will end this war soon but Palin strongly felt that we couldn't pull out now. And when asked which was more of a threat, Iran and thier nuclear weapons or Unstable pakistan, Biden thought Pakistan while Palin thought Iran. It seemed they disagreed on most issues involving foreign policy.

So, although the media stressed what a good job Sarah Palin did, that was only because she had such low expectations. In my opinion, Joe Biden won the debate. From listening to him I felt he really knew what he was talking about and had a lot of experience whereas Palin is extremely new at all this. She hardly answered any questions, and Biden had a good answer for most. Some of my opinion might just be from a general dislike for Palin but overall Biden is much more suited for a position like the Vice President of the Unites States.