Imbecilic tedium: The debate in Nashville (Alexander Cockburn)

[struggle4progress]

y Alexander Cockburn
Published: Oct 9 2008, 11:28 PM · Updated: Oct 9 2008, 11:36 PM

... The encounter took place against the vivid backdrop of economic catastrophe, the obvious failure of the $700 billion bailout to turn the tide, Tuesday’s market averages hurtling into the abyss, a paralyzing credit freeze, the prospect of savage deflation and prolonged world depression ... It was as though the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, even though apprised that fire and brimstone had already consumed substantial portions of their cities, with prospective destruction of the remnant, spent a vainglorious 90 minutes vying with each other in proclaiming the fundamental soundness of their economy and the greatness of their civilization.

McCain said he had a plan. He would require his treasury secretary to bail out beleaguered homeowners. Obama said he’d do the same. It’s a sensible idea. Yet, a few days earlier, both men had voted “yes” to a bankers’ bailout that explicitly does not rescue homeowners, but exposes the defaulters to foreclosures superintended by the Treasury. The testy and self-important moderator, Tom Brokaw, could have swiftly asked them about this, but he didn’t ...

The discussion of foreign affairs was even worse, with the added burden of being mostly repetitions of the first debate in Oxford, Miss. McCain invoked the uniqueness of America and its mission to bring freedom and light to the rest of the planet. Obama solemnly agreed. Neither man saw fit to address the fact that America is only able to shoulder these imperial burdens because China has been prepared to finance the war in Iraq. The difficult word “China” was fleetingly mentioned, once. The issue of an immense and unsustainable Pentagon budget intruded not at all, nor did the thousand or so U.S. military bases overseas ...

We have one more debate, in which McCain will have another chance to reduce Obama’s commanding lead, something he failed to do Tuesday night, even though it now seems Sarah Palin did slow McCain’s slump with her performance last week. McCain and Palin are trying to get traction by slurring Obama for association with Bill Ayers, a leader of the bomb-throwing anti-war Weathermen in the ‘60s. Obama was eight when they threw the bombs. It doesn’t seem a productive line of attack for McCain and Palin, particularly when many Americans wouldn’t mind blowing up Wall Street themselves.

http://eurekareporter.com/article/081009-imbecilic-tedium-the-debate-in-nashville