The World and I

We all knew that this debate would focus on foreign policy (in fact this is why so many international people were very intrigued about the outcome). Prior to the debate I talked to many of my American friends explained to me that foreign policy issues are definitely not going to be the defining topics of this election - well of course I am talking about foreign policy outside the Iraq War (which has really become a domestic issue). However, in the debate on foreign policy, I was amazed to see that the word EU and US's relation to the EU never even came up in the whole 90 minutes. Given Russia was a topic, but it did indicate to me that US-EU relations, whilst they might be extremely important to us, are not as important to the US.

Many argued that the reason that George Bush did not only get one but two terms in the White House is that he is very much "the guy next door" who you would like to go have a drink with and thus most Americans can relate too. This is an image that Obama does not have whatsoever, however, I feel McCain did manage to bring across in the debate. Although I am a big fan of Obama's rhetoric and in general his arguments, the did sometimes come across in quite an academic fashion whilst McCain managed much better to lay out his arguments in "layman's terms." No one is quite sure who "won" the debate, and in my opinion I actually found it quite even, I do think Obama with his cool and collected style did manage to convince those people who were doubtful if he was ready for the job that he actually is, whilst McCain, as I indicated before, may have convinced those people who are looking for a more down-to-earth president.

I look forward to all the subsequent debates - especially to see whether either candidate will change their style!