Democratic Debate

The Washington Post headline today read: "In Pa. Debate, The Clear Loser Is ABC". I could not agree more. I was expecting a very heated debate, due to all that has been going on lately, however, I was not expecting to dwell on those things as much ABC did. I felt like the entire debate was mainly focused on the little issues that the media has been obsessed with, rather than about real issues. They talked about Obama's 'guns and religion' remarks, his paster Rev. Wright's controversial sermons, and why they will not promise that they will choose the runner up as their running mate. I felt like the whole thing was ridiculous, they hardly talked about the real issues. The whole point of the debate was for those in Pennsylvania who are voting next Tuesday to determine which candidate they liked m ore, as well as for the rest of America. I think that focusing on the smaller issues so much only adds to the problem. Obama even seemed to get upset when asked a silly question at one point about not wearing the flag. Some hick-looking lady asked Obama if he believed in the flag because he did not wear a pin. That really pissed me off. Of course he believes in it. And he never said he wouldn't wear one--he actually wore won that a veteran had given him just the day before. He just thinks that it is ridiculous that people decide if someone is patriotic or not because of if he wears a pin. Obama made a good point, his actions and what he does should show his patriotism, not a minuscule detail like wearing a pin or not. Another ridiculous question was whether Obama thought that Rev. Wright loved America as much as Obama does. What kind of question is that? If they want to talk about the Rev. Wright thing for the 30,000th time, fine. But why are questions about whether he loves America more or not beign asked? All that does is put the politicians in an awkward situation because they are being asked an awkward question. And it just gives the opposing sides another thing to attach--no matter what his response is. I was very annoyed with the debate, but I was happy when I realized that it was not just me. Greg Mitchell, a Huffington Post analyst said, "In perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years, ABC News hosts Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous focused mainly on trivial issues as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off in Philadelphia". I usually feel like I know more about the candidates when I watch a debate, but I just found myself annoyed that we were hearing the same things that they have been playing over youtube repeatedly for the past couple weeks. People just need to drop the small things--or at least drop them when we are having a serious debate. The hosts should have come up with much more important, relevant questions. In the end, I think that the debate hurt Obama the most, because most of the stupid questions focused on things that had to do with him, his ties, his reverend, etc. I don't think he will win Pennsylvania, but I am hoping that those 'gun and religion clingers'' votes don't matter.