The Presidential Debates, Round 2

The second debate between President Bush and Senator Kerry took place last Friday night at Washington University. Unlike the first debate, the format was a "town hall" meeting, wherein the members of the audience directly questioned the candidates. It is generally felt that Kerry won the first debate. So it was highly important to the president to win this one. It was felt that the style of the debate favored his "down home" style and straight talk. I have to say I did not see the entire debate, missing the last 20 minutes or so. The debate was surprisingly more confrontational than the first one. And, at least in the portion I watched, I thought Bush came across again as flustered and angry, though more aggressive than in the first, and Kerry came off confident and cool. Kerry, again, did not land any body blows. Both candidates did better this time, but if Bush's goal was to win, I don't think he made it. Post-debate polls list it as a draw.

I could flatter myself that someone in the Kerry camp must read my blog. (I'm sure they don't, they just have people who had the same comments I did.) In my comments on the first debate, pointing out missed opportunities for Kerry, I said, "Another point was about the inspections regime against Saddam Hussein, with Bush repeatedly using that as an example of the failures of pre-9/11 diplomacy. Here's a simple response: Mr. President, IT WORKED!" In the second debate, Kerry said

The goal of the sanctions was not to remove Saddam Hussein, it was to remove the weapons of mass destruction. And, Mr. President, just yesterday the Duelfer report told you and the whole world they worked. He didn't have weapons of mass destruction, Mr. President. That was the objective. And if we'd used smart diplomacy, we could have saved $200 billion and an invasion of Iraq. And right now, Osama bin Laden might be in jail or dead. That's the war against terror.

That was a pretty good exchange, and showed Kerry getting bolder. Another good riff from Kerry were some comments on Medicare:

Actually, Mr. President, in 1997 we fixed Medicare, and I was one of the people involved in it. We not only fixed Medicare and took it way out into the future, we did something that you don't know how to do: We balanced the budget. And we paid down the debt of our nation for two years in a row, and we created 23 million new jobs at the same time. And it's the president's fiscal policies that have driven up the biggest deficits in American history. He's added more debt to the debt of the United States in four years than all the way from George Washington to Ronald Reagan put together. Go figure.

Smack! When Bush invoked the L word ("liberal"), Kerry responded

But look, what's really important, Charlie, is the president is just trying to scare everybody here with throwing labels around. I mean, "compassionate conservative," what does that mean? Cutting 500,000 kids from after-school programs, cutting 365,000 kids from health care, running up the biggest deficits in American history.
Mr. President, you're batting 0 for 2. I mean, seriously -- labels don't mean nothing.

Smack!

My wife and I laughed multiple times during the debate when candidates would be asked a question and their answer would be on something totally different. Both candidates did it. I reminds me of a scene in Yes Prime Minister where Hacker is prepping Humphrey for an interview, and his advise is much along these lines. For example, in response to a question about how he would deal with Iran, Kerry talked about the president's failures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Korea, but nothing about how he would deal with Iran. That's not quite true, he did have one sentence at the end of his question to say, "if we have to get tough with Iran, believe me, we will get tough."

One thing I saw in the president really bothers me, and hints at something I've long feared about him. Much of the first debate and the first portion of the second debate involved Bush's decisions being questioned and attacked by Kerry, requiring the president to defend himself. This seems to really get under his skin, even to get him angry. In the second debate, he was asked how he would repair relations with around the world. Bush's answer, in a raised voice, was to list many decisions that he knew were unpopular. Let me quote the whole response:

No, I appreciate that. I -- listen, I -- we've got a great country. I love our values. And I recognize I've made some decisions that have caused people to not understand the great values of our country. I remember when Ronald Reagan was the president; he stood on principle. Somebody called that stubborn. He stood on principle standing up to the Soviet Union, and we won that conflict. Yet at the same time, he was very -- we were very unpopular in Europe because of the decisions he made. I recognize that taking Saddam Hussein out was unpopular. But I made the decision because I thought it was in the right interests of our security. You know, I've made some decisions on Israel that's unpopular. I wouldn't deal with Arafat, because I felt like he had let the former president down, and I don't think he's the kind of person that can lead toward a Palestinian state. And people in Europe didn't like that decision. And that was unpopular, but it was the right thing to do. I believe Palestinians ought to have a state, but I know they need leadership that's committed to a democracy and freedom, leadership that would be willing to reject terrorism. I made a decision not to join the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which is where our troops could be brought to -- brought in front of a judge, an unaccounted judge. I don't think we ought to join that. That was unpopular. And so, what I'm telling you is, is that sometimes in this world you make unpopular decisions because you think they're right. We'll continue to reach out. Listen, there is 30 nations involved in Iraq, some 40 nations involved in Afghanistan. People love America. Sometimes they don't like the decisions made by America, but I don't think you want a president who tries to become popular and does the wrong thing. You don't want to join the International Criminal Court just because it's popular in certain capitals in Europe.

Nothing in there about repairing relations. Just a litany of the unpopular decisions he has made. I fully agree with the president that "sometimes in this world you make unpopular decisions because you think they're right." But, to me, Bush's attitude is more like, "I made a decision, and I don't really give a toss if you or anyone else like it." He acts almost like it is beneath him to have to justify his actions. The problem is that a president is accountable to the people. That is the heart of a democracy. In business, a company president is accountable to the board of directors, and he or she will be called on a regular basis to justify decisions and report on progress. For a president to feel that is beneath him is quite disturbing.

Beyond that is my impression that Bush gets angry when questioned on his decisions. He has not lost his temper in the debates, but he has clearly gotten angry. If fairly respectful questioning by the people to whom he is accountable makes him mad, what are his emotions when things are hitting the fan? Kerry at least takes the questioning in stride and remains calm. I have always thought the so-called Bush Doctrine was a knee-jerk, emotional response rather than a soberly thought out doctrine. I would hope we would have a president who can control his temper and make rational, sober judgements at crucial times. To see a president who cannot even handle questioning in a debate without getting angry is disquieting.

Bush also seems to have a problem taking responsibility for things. When asked about government spending the deficit, Bush said, "We have a deficit. We have a deficit because this country went into a recession. You might remember the stock market started to decline dramatically six months before I came to office, and then the bubble of the 1990s popped. And that cost us revenue. That cost us revenue." Obviously he is right that the recession was a major factor, maybe even the main factor, in causing a deficit. But cannot he not recognize that a tax cut, reducing government revenue, also played a part? On mistakes made as president, Bush goes so far as to say, "history will look back, and I'm fully prepared to accept any mistakes that history judges to my administration, because the president makes the decisions, the president has to take the responsibility." So, historians will decide what mistakes were made, and he will accept that judgment. But, you will note he does not list any himself. He still cannot bring himself to admit any mistakes.