John McCain And Barack Obama Slug It Out In Aggressive Second Debate On Economy, Foreign Policy

This was more like it.

If you thought the first debate between presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama was more like a polite disagreement on the economy and foreign policy, Tuesday night's (October 7) second showdown on those same topics found the Senate colleagues staring each other down for a tense 90 minutes during which they tried to draw very clear lines on how their policies differ.

After a bare-knuckle week in which the airwaves were flooded with talk of McCain's ties to the "Keating Five" savings and loan scandal of the late 1980s and Obama's relationship with a former 1960s radical became Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's favorite topic, both candidates avoided those old scandals in favor of focusing on what needs to be done to get the United States economy and military back on track.

But, like the first debate, neither candidate seemed to make a major mistake or land a sound-bite-worthy punch that has the potential to change the race as it speeds toward its November 4 conclusion. What they did do was frequently repeat the same criticisms audiences have heard in their stump speeches and in previous debates, including McCain's claim that "we don't have time for on-the-job training."

And when McCain followed that criticism up — as he did several times in the men's first debate 12 days ago — by charging that Obama "doesn't understand" our national-security challenges, the Illinois senator went on the attack in an aggressive way supporters claimed he failed to do during the first debate.

"It's true," Obama said. "There are some things I don't understand. I don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, while Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us. That was Senator McCain's judgment, and it was the wrong judgment. When Senator McCain was cheerleading the president to go into Iraq, he suggested it was going to be quick and easy, we'd be greeted as liberators. That was the wrong judgment, and it's been costly to us."

In a format that is more comfortable for McCain, the candidates were seated on stools in a small theater on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, surrounded on three sides by a horseshoe of 80 uncommitted voters who submitted questions, along with queries from Internet users. Moderator Tom Brokaw set up the questions and struggled mightily all night to get the presidential hopefuls to stick to the strict two-minute response and one-minute follow-up times.

The first hour of the debate focused on the economy and domestic-policy issues, with McCain going hard after Obama's health care plan at one point, claiming the Democrat would impose "mandates" and fine families and businesses that don't sign up for the plan. "That's remarkable," McCain said. "If you're a parent and you're struggling to get health insurance for your children, Senator Obama will fine you."

Taking a page from McCain's running mate's book, Obama mostly disregarded the next question on whether health care is a privilege, a right or a responsibility and denied that his plan would impose fines or mandates, explaining, "It's true that I say that you are going to have to make sure that your child has health care, because children are relatively cheap to insure and we don't want them going to the emergency room for treatable illnesses like asthma."

With McCain now trailing in national polls and the economy spiraling further down with each passing day — a situation that most pundits agree favors Obama — both men tried to portray their economic plans as the salve the country needs to get back on its feet, while pointedly tearing down the other's priorities. Obama lashed McCain for supporting the "failed economic policies of the last eight years" under President Bush, saying the Arizona senator's plan to provide $300 billion in tax cuts would mostly benefit big business and oil companies.

McCain countered by saying that with the "encouragement of Senator Obama and his cronies and friends in Washington," the failed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made risky loans to people who couldn't afford them, which served as the "match that lit this fire." McCain also claimed that Obama was the second highest recipient of Fannie and Freddie money in history. "Some of us stood up against [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] and others took a hike."

Unlike the first debate, where Obama sometimes agreed with McCain before disagreeing with him, in Tuesday night's showdown, Obama hit back that it was McCain's actions that were the real catalyst for the meltdown, tarring his opponent with being behind the deregulation of the financial system that helped lead to the sub prime mortgage meltdown. "Now, with respect to Fannie Mae, what Senator McCain didn't mention is the fact that this bill that he talked about wasn't his own bill," Obama said. "He jumped on it a year after it had been introduced and it never got passed. And I never promoted Fannie Mae. In fact, Sen. McCain's campaign chairman's firm was a lobbyist on behalf of Fannie Mae, not me."

Given the rampant distrust of government in light of the financial crisis and skepticism about the recently passed $700 billion bailout plan, an audience member asked how Americans could trust either man with the country's purse strings. Again attempting to tie McCain to Bush, Obama noted that the country went from record surpluses to historic deficits under Bush and that McCain voted for four out of five of those budgets. He then said his priorities would be to reform the health care system, come up with a new energy plan that cuts our dependence on foreign oil and invest in college affordability.

As he did several times during the evening, McCain took the opportunity to say that, unlike Obama, he has worked with Democrats often over the years and that the situation requires a bipartisan effort. "This is the most liberal big-spending record in the United States Senate," McCain said of Obama, pointing out that the Senator is proposing $860 billion in new spending and once voted for $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in his native Chicago. "I have fought against excessive spending and outrages. I have fought to reduce the earmarks and eliminate them."

Neither presidential hopeful was above throwing a zinger at the other. McCain lamented that nailing down Obama's tax plan was "like nailing Jell-O to a wall," and in an answer to how he would deal with the looming Social Security crisis, Obama hit back at McCain's claims about Obama's tax plans by saying, "I think the 'Straight Talk Express' lost a wheel on that one."

When the topic finally turned to what is perceived as McCain's strength, foreign policy, in response to a question about whether the United States can still act as the peacemaker of the world given the financial crisis, McCain argued that he has the judgment and experience to make that call, while charging that, "Senator Obama was wrong about Iraq and the surge. He was wrong about Russia when they committed aggression against Georgia. And in his short career, he does not understand our national-security challenges."

In a follow-up question about whether the U.S. would ignore borders and go after al Qaeda terrorists wherever they were, Obama once again asserted that the U.S. was wrong in going into Iraq in the first place when the job of hunting down terror mastermind Osama bin Laden was not completed, and said, "If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take him out, then I think that we have to act and we will take them out. We will kill bin Laden; we will crush al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national-security priority."

Citing president Theodore Roosevelt's maxim "speak softly, but carry a big stick," McCain chided Obama's tactic of talking "loudly," saying it was wrong to "announce that he's going to attack Pakistan. Remarkable." At that point, though there was no time for a follow-up, Obama insisted on one, and Brokaw — who jokingly referred to himself as the "hired help" - agreed to break the format and allow it. Obama then strongly asserted that he never called for an invasion of Pakistan.

"Now, Senator McCain suggests that somehow ... I'm green behind the ears and ... I'm just spouting off, and he's somber and responsible," Obama said. "Senator McCain, this is the guy who sang, 'Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,' who called for the annihilation of North Korea. That I don't think is an example of 'speaking softly.' This is the person who, after we had - we hadn't even finished Afghanistan, where he said, 'Next up, Baghdad.' "

Both men ended with a plea in which they said they were the right person to help put America back on track, with Obama arguing, "We need fundamental change. That's what's at stake in this election. That's the reason I decided to run for president, and I'm hopeful that all of you are prepared to continue this extraordinary journey that we call America. But we're going to have to have the courage and the sacrifice, the nerve to move in a new direction."

Leaving their bitter differences aside for the moment, McCain answered Obama's plea for a greater calling, pledging, "I believe in this country. I believe in its future. I believe in its greatness. It's been my great honor to serve it for many, many years. And I'm asking the American people to give me another opportunity and I'll rest on my record, but I'll also tell you, when times are tough, we need a steady hand at the tiller and the great honor of my life was to always put my country first."

The final debate will take place at Hofstra University in New York on October 15.

To weigh in on who you think won the debate, head over to the Newsroom blog.

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