Obama Nearer to Victory

The Democrat Barack Obama came out the winner of the second presidential debate, in which he opposed John McCain. The latter staked his all on this debate, even proposing a 300 billion dollar plan to pay off subprime loans. But, the Republican candidate seems to have lost the debate after being judged unconvincing and too aggressive by the first polls.

Americans expected an eventful clash between John McCain, who no longer has anything to lose, and Barack Obama. Boredom, however, dominated the second televised debate in the American presidential campaign. The two candidates clashed on topics ranging from taxes, the best way to assist the middle class, and the financial crisis – “the worst since the Great Depression” according to Obama. The Republican senator of Arizona, criticized for not having reacted earlier to the grave financial unrest, approached this widely awaited meeting under the pressure of the polls, which consider Obama as the better placed candidate to deal with the economic downturn.

John McCain was forced to innovate, by detailing rather confusingly, an outline of a new government program, piloted by the Department of the Treasury. His big plan calls for the buyback of home loans that American households can no longer pay back, the famous subprime loans, and to replace them with new fixed-rate loans. According to his campaign team, this real estate rescue plan would cost approximately 300 billion dollars.

A Brief Raising of Voices

However, the Democrats of Congress had already proposed this idea last June. Surfing on a theme which he has used repeatedly, Barack Obama judged that the middle class, not only the large Wall Street businesses, needed urgent measures, including large tax reductions, in order to be able to revive consumption. He also called for sanctions against Wall Street executives. For the Illinois senator, the verdict is clear: the crises were fueled by the politics of deregulation “strongly encouraged by President Bush and supported by Senator McCain.”

A remark that pushed the republican to retort with an unexpected and aggressive outburst: “Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae, with the encouragement of Barack Obama and his Democrat friends, are the true causes of the crisis.” He concluded his tirade by saying: “Americans are angry, they are defeated and they are a little scared.” After this heated exchange, the debate shifted towards foreign policy. The last part of the debate was more or less consensual: the two candidates agreed with each other on several subjects, including the strengthening of sanctions against Iran.

This second debate in the American presidential campaign between John McCain and Barack Obama was considered as one of the last chances for the Republican candidate to reverse his downward spiral. But the first poll, conducted by CNN, called Obama the winner, with 54% of the votes, while McCain received only 30% of the votes. But it is important to remember that these studies were conducted on the American public, not on the electors who will vote in one month. Nevertheless, one must notice that Barack Obama is inevitably moving closer to the White House.