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The bar was set low for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
coming into the debate on October 2, and in many respects
I believe she failed to meet it. Senator Joe Biden was
able to shut the governor down on several key issues.
Looking at the debate as a whole, the two differed
greatly in their delivery methods. Palin's speeches
were relatively unremarkable but effective, filled with
simple colloquialisms and generic expressions. This
approach made the governor seem informal. Biden rested
at the other end of the spectrum, with a very formal
approach and speeches filled with facts rather than
banter.
Right off the bat, and to no great surprise, the economy
was the first issue to be tackled by the nominees. Here
Biden quickly laid out Barack Obama's economic plan,
while Palin merely echoed John McCain's words that the
economy is "strong." Palin blamed lenders
for the economic housing crisis, and then a few sentences
later said it was the peoples fault.
Palin dodges questions
It was in these first thirty minutes of the debate
that several disturbing trends from Palin began to arise.
First, and in my opinion most alarming, was the fact
that not once during the entire debate did Palin mention
any specific policy that her administration with John
McCain would undertake. Biden mentioned at least three.
The other trend that arose was that she refused to
answer certain questions, instead just taking the liberty
to create her own topics. She started this trend by
demanding that Biden talk about energy. I found myself
asking the people that I was watching the debate with
where the topic had come from, and the answer, I gathered,
was that Palin simply decided it was time to talk about
it.
When asked about the effects of climate change, Palin
stated that she didn't know what the causes were, didn't
care what the causes were, but recognized that the world
is actually experiencing said change. She simply said
that we need to fight the effects of it. Now this is
much like a lazy doctor who doesn't want to diagnose
a patient, but would rather just cure their symptoms
by feeding them different medication until something
works.
The diplomacy debate
The next big issue that arose was foreign policy. Here
the viewpoints greatly differed: Biden promised to end
the war quickly, and Palin asked how we could possibly
wave the white flag of surrender.
It was in this turf that it became painfully obvious of
Palin's inexperience in foreign policy matters and a general
knowledge of our history. Palin proclaimed that she was
"shocked by the naivety of Barack Obama" for wanting to
sit down with our enemies and "talk to them."
Diplomacy is always a good option before conflict because
the actual conflict might be averted. Second, talking
to our enemies has greatly benefited us in the past. If
we (and hopefully Palin) remember the Cuban Missile Crisis
during the 1960s, we would remember that a disaster was
prevented by effective communication between the Soviet
Union and ourselves.
Lastly, as Biden pointed out, McCain is refusing to talk
to our ally Spain, who is a member of NATO. How effective
can America be on the world stage if we assume the isolationist
role we played in the early part of the 1900s?
The role of the vice president
Towards the end of the debate, Palin demonstrated her
general lack of knowledge of our founding and living
document called the Constitution by saying that if she
were the vice president she would work to expand the
role of the vice president into the senate. Anyone who
has taken a high school government class knows that
the role of the vice president is very limited, merely
breaking tied votes in the Senate as well as advising
the president on certain issues. This proposition far
exceeds constitutional bounds, and Biden quickly pointed
this out, promising to fulfill only what the constitution
calls for the vice president to do.
In conclusion, this debate really showed Palin's general
inexperience in politics, which is a very unsettling.
While Biden was not perfect by any means, he was successful
in besting Palin in anything she threw at him. All in
all, an eye opening debate for this high school senior.
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After H1N1-related school closures in the last flu season, local schools have lowered the severity of their response and are focusing on preventative action that does not interrupt education.
