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The Siegenthaler Center at Vanderbilt University
John Siegenthaler Sr., founder of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, has hosted a symposium on the Presidential debates. Siegenthaler is the chairman emeritus of Nashville’s Tennesean newspaper, and he was joined by Harold Ford Jr., a former Congressman who is a visiting professor in political science at Vanderbilt, as the forum’s hosts.
Vanderbilt Visiting Prof. Harold Ford Jr.
Included on the forum panel were Politico’s Mike Allen, Distinguished Prof. John Greer of Vanderbilt, Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, Mark Halperin and Joe Klein of Time, Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s Hardball, Anne Kornblut of the Washigton Post, and John Harwood of NBC.
The discussion was centered around the direction of the 2008 Presidential campaigns of John McCain and Barack Obama, from the perspective of the journalists and political analysts who have been following the candidates, some prior even to the actual announcements of their run for the office. Vanderbilt University gave its students the opportunity to hear the views of these experts and personalities firsthand, and to discuss with them the role of the media in the political process. Of course, this is an area that the media needs to be reminded of given the nature of how they have perceived their role in THIS ELECTION.
Representing Collegiate News Services, Larry Sinclair attended the forum. Sinclair, whose claims of using drugs and having sex with Barack Obama in 1999 have not been denied by the Obama campaign, sought to address concerns of how the media has portrayed a bias in this election, choosing to ignore stories such as Ayers, Rev. Wright or even his claims.
It should be noted that the panel included many of the left-leaning liberal NBC. Mr. Siegenthaler’s son, Jogn Siegenthaler Jr. was a former anchor for NBC and MSNBC until July 2008 when he joined the family’s Siegenthaler Public Relations.
With less than 40 days until we elect our new President, it is left to the imagination as to what twists and turns the election process can AND will take during the next five weeks or so.
We have been witness to a Democratic Primary process that saw the manipulation of the archane rules of the Democratic National Party, as well as the BIASED media fawning, that nominated Barack Obama over the DNC’s true primary nominee, Senator Hillary Clinton. Now we see top Clinton supporters, such as Lady Lynn de Rothschild, put party aside and support the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.
On the Republican side, we witnessed Sen. John McCain make an amazing comeback from no support and no money, to be the Republican nominee. Then the maverick Senator stun all, and steals the thunder of Obama’s grandstanding acceptance speech, by nominating Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate.
In the past few weeks, Sen. Obama has been served with a lawsuit by Philip Berg, a Pennsylvania attorney, challenging his eligibility to be President because he will not produce his birth certificate. As of Wednesday of this week, the Obama team had filed a Motion to Dismiss, and Mr. Berg has been given 5 days to respond to the Motion, when the customary time is 14 days.
During the past few weeks, the financial markets have been in a major upheaval, and this week, the government is attempting to step in to bailout the corrupt mortgage market that created a garbage security instrument backed by bad mortgage notes. This market can be correlated to Milken and the junk bond market.
Showing that he is a true leader, McCain stopped his campaigning and has asked Obama to postpone tonight’s debate, so that they both can be a part of the bailout negotiations. More than two-thirds of the American public are against the bailout, and John McCain has stated the American public’s interest in this situation is tantamount in this process.
Even President Clinton has sang the praises of John McCain in his approach to the financial crisis, as well as for his willingness to examine the idea of global warming. On Greta van Susteren’s show last night, 66% of the viewers believe that President Clinton will cast his vote for Sen. McCain, though we will never know.
The Gallup daily tracking polls had shown that Obama had pulled ahead in the polls as the financial crisis has unfolded, but in a virtual tie as of yesterday with McCain’s bold move in putting the “pause” on his campaign.
So its, Friday and the markets will open in a panic because there is no bailout deal in place. We will watch a roller-coaster weekend, of the financial markets, of a debate that may or not occur, the polls fluctuating, and Obama continuing to hide his personal records while running an ad showing John McCain after a skin cancer surgery claiming that McCain is not showing all of his medical records (Note: Sen. McCain’s skin cancers have been thoroughly documented).
Quoting or paraphrasing Bette Davis, “Hang on boys, it’s going to be a bumpy ride”!!
Sen. McCain has put politics aside for a short while (so to speak), and has returned to Washington DC to be a key player in the mortgage bailout legislation, and he encouraged Obama to do so. Obama did not feel there was a necessity to do so, until he was invited to a meeting at the White House.
When one cuts through the rhetoric of the campaigns, and through the language of President Bush, what is the real rush in the $700,000,000,000.00 bailout in our mortgage crisis? Is there a potential for a rush on the banks by middle America, and is this the reason for the rushing?
We all have the basic understanding that our deposits are insured, up to $100,000 per depositor in each bank. But, though the FDIC is an arm of the government, are the assets and reserves of the FDIC adequate to substantially insure the depositors as the markets appear now? We have seen the bad paper on the books of Lehman Brothers and others, and the ailing troubles at AIG. Is it too far of a speculation to think that the assets and reserves of the assets were depleted as a result of the falling markets, and now are not in a position to sustain a run on the banks?
If the federal government is going to commit each of us to this $700,000,000,000 bailout, I believe that we have the RIGHT to DEMAND transparency in financial system. There is obviously “more than what we are being told” in this rush to legislation, because the majority of Americans are AGAINST this bailout. Someone, anyone…….. Washington……. can you hear us!!! Tell us what the real rush is if you want us to support the cause!!! Sen. Biden, I am Patriotic, but I want the true facts!!
It has been said that one of the deciding moments in the 1960 Presidential race came when, for the first time, the debates were televised. The debate was held on September 26, 1960. Though Richard Nixon was only a mere 5 years older than John Kennedy, his uneasiness in the debate forum was underscored by his unwillingness to wear makeup, which allowed the cameras to capture has stress. Kennedy, on the other hand, came across with confidence.
So how will John McCain and Barack Obama fair as they face off in their first debate on September 26th? First and foremost, the candidates have decided on a format that allows for discussion between them after the debate question has been answered. This factor may be a high positive for John McCain, since Obama does not do as well off “the cuff” and without a teleprompter.
The Obama team will gather this week in Tampa, FL to have a “debate camp” to prepare Obama for the debate. Sen. Obama has a problem in “getting to the point” in his answer. In fact, he answers a question very much like a law student would answer a law school essay, basically giving both sides of the answer. Often, he never really gets to the answer. Last night, on 60 Minutes, Obama became a bit flippant with the interviewer because he felt he had been interrupted. It gave an air of arrogance when he did it.
For John McCain, the key in preparing will be to continually hammer at Obama’s lack of experience and Obama’s lack of answering in details instead of generalities. John McCain has to drawn on his ease of talking to the TownHall format, and how uncomfortable being questioned makes Obama feel. Most of all, he has to draw on his foreign policy advantage. Obama Senior Advisor Anita Dunn has been quoted as saying that “In this first debate, John McCain has the home-field advantage with his expertise on foreign policy.” (Wall Street Journal 09/22/08).
If McCain can handle the timed section of each question as though it’s a TownHall meeting, he’ll do well with the free-flow exchange that ensues with Obama. Keeping in mind the closeness in the polls, a strong showing by McCain in the first debate will go a long way toward strengthening his position.
