Professors: No clear debate winner

‘ ‘ ‘ The jury is still out on who won the first of three presidential debates between Sen…. ‘ ‘ ‘ The jury is still out on who won the first of three presidential debates between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain on Friday night. ‘ ‘ ‘ While CNN, MSNBC and CBS insta-polls concluded that most people thought Obama maintained a slight edge over McCain, commentators from the New York Times and Time Magazine, among others, said that neither candidate emerged with a knockout win over the other. ‘ ‘ ‘ Lissa Geiger, president of the Pitt chapter of College Democrats, agreed with polls that Obama won overall. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Obama just seemed cooler and much more level-headed,’ she said. ‘Both were stronger on certain issues, but he definitely won it.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Pat Graham and Zack Bombatch, president and vice president of the College Republicans, said that they did not watch the debate. Other contacts within College Republicans could not be reached for comment. ‘ ‘ ‘ Gerald Shuster, a Pitt communication professor, agreed with commentators and said that neither candidate won but that it’s not necessarily about that. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Neither came out on top,’ he said. ‘It’s not like it was your average collegiate debate or something. There’s no real winner here. They basically just showed how they differ on the issues.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Barbara Warnick, the chairperson of Pitt’s Department of Communication and author of ‘Rhetoric Online: Persuasion and Politics on the World Wide Web,’ said Obama and McCain had strong points during the debate, but each held his own. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘In my opinion, it was a tie,’ she said. ‘Both of them did OK, but neither one stood out as an indisputable winner in the end. It was an interesting debate, but there wasn’t a knockdown anywhere.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Both candidates traded blows on issues including the financial crisis and foreign policy during the 90-minute debate. According to the Nielsen TV Ratings, one in every three households watched as moderator Jim Lehrer presented nine lead questions to both senators: four about the economy and five concerning foreign policy. ‘ ‘ ‘ Shuster said Obama and McCain ‘talked in generalizations’ about the financial crisis but focused on ‘differing personal philosophies’ in foreign policy. But he said Obama showed strength and experience when discussing Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Russia. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘He definitely showed that he can stand toe-to-toe with McCain,’ he said. ‘He showed that he’s not weaker in foreign policy, and they maintained an even playing field with each other.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Warnick said both had ‘interesting takes on the bailout situation,’ citing that Obama listed domestic priorities versus McCain’s interest in military funding. She also said the different stances on military forces in Afghanistan and the state of Israel showed the different ideas of each candidate. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Their answers were so different on how the bailout would affect their policies. One is completely focused on the economy here, and the other continues on with foreign policies,’ she said. ‘ ‘ ‘ Geiger said that students should pay close attention to the economic issues at hand. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘All of the issues they talked about were relevant. The state of the economy is really important to any student who wants to graduate and have a decent job with retirement, though,’ she said. ‘We need to know what’s going on for the future.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Shuster and Warnick agreed that neither made any large gaffes during the debate, but they said Obama played nice toward McCain. However, both pointed to flaws in the candidates’ presentations. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘McCain seemed very embittered at certain points. You could see him in the background looking upset when Obama was speaking. All his attention was geared towards the moderator when he spoke, too,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I think Obama was much more at ease, and I thought he used the camera well. He spoke to the people at home, too, not just the moderator. But both seemed too hesitant at times, too afraid to throw a really hard punch.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Warnick said McCain did not have any ‘senior moments’ and prepared well for the discussion, but Obama hesitated too much and proved to be ‘a great speaker but not a great debater.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘My husband kept pointing out that McCain really did his homework, knowing all the names of countries and their leaders and everything,’ she said. ‘But I feel like Obama was way too polite at times.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Warnick also said that the moderating in the debate was questionable because the time limits were not enforced. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘McCain went on longer, and Obama was too nice about it,’ she said. ‘I guess that was an attempt to be more spontaneous, but I’ve been watching debates for about 20 years and time limits were always enforced. That was a big problem this time around.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ The next presidential debate will be a town hall meeting held Oct. 7 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. The vice presidential debate is scheduled for Oct. 2 at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I think the next presidential debate will be very interesting and probably the most telling,’ said Warnick. ‘It’ll be interesting to see how each person plans to deal with these domestic issues, and the vice presidential debate should be great, too.’