With financial markets and the economy crashing down around them, Tuesday night Senators John McCain and Barack Obama engaged in a rather restrained debate about who was really to blame and whose plan would actually solve the nation’s problems.

Moderated by Tom Brokaw, the candidates were asked questions submitted by the audience and through the Internet.

Obama made it clear that George W. Bush’s Administration and John McCain’s support of a deregulatory environment had led to the economic crash. McCain responded by his surprise announcement of pledging new aid to homeowners facing foreclosure and a proposal to have the federal government buy mortgages homeowners could no longer afford.

McCain likely lost some of his support among the conservative wing of the Republican Party when he announced, “As President of the United States, I would order the Secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad mortgages in America and renegotiate them at the diminished value of those homes and let people make those payments and stay in their homes. Is it expensive? Yes.”

Obama focused on the day to day struggles of Americans trying to keep their heads above water, suggesting that he would help them with a middle class rescue package with tax cuts for all families and businesses making less than $250,000 a year.

Obama explained, “This is help for homeowners so that they can stay in their homes. We’ll help state and local governments set up road and bridge projects that will keep people in their jobs. In the long-term, we’ve got to fix our health care system and our energy system that is putting such an enormous financial burden on families.”

McCain criticized Obama’s record in the Senate, saying he had voted for billions of dollars in unneeded spending, including $3 million for a “projector for a planetarium in Chicago.”

In response, Obama pointed out that Rick Davis, John McCain’s campaign manager, had accepted money for consulting from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, mortgage corporations recently taken over by the government. Obama said the nation was suffering after eight years of George Bush’s inept fiscal mismanagement and the Republican Party’s deregulation policies that were supported by McCain.

McCain said that his priority would be to rid the federal government of cronyism, greed and corruption.

When they were asked to choose what priorities they would assign to health care, entitlement spending, or energy - Obama chose energy and health care. McCain said that he would focus on entitlement spending like Social Security and Medicare.

Obama said that he wanted to spend $15 billion each year for ten years to gain energy independence, noting the local price of gasoline when he noted that Nashville residents were paying $3.80 a gallon. Obama also said that he wanted to make health care more accessible, saying that the health care system is bad for families, but also for businesses. He also questioned the wisdom of McCain’s tax cut plan that would cost $300 billion and would primarily benefit large corporations, especially the big oil companies.

Answering a question about what he would ask Americans to sacrifice during the current economic crisis, McCain said he would advocate a spending freeze on large parts of government.

Obama commented that President Bush, in reaction to 9/11, initially did some smart things. Everyone seemed to be together and were ready to serve and sacrifice for their country, but opportunities were lost when Bush told Americans, “Go out and shop.” Obama commented, “That wasn’t the kind of call that I think the American people were really looking for.”

The candidates offered different approaches to current energy shortages and high prices. Obama suggested federal research and development for alternative energy sources, while McCain said that he supported a wider use of nuclear power. McCain actually showed a lack of credibility when he criticized Obama for supporting a Bush Administration energy bill that provided millions of dollars for the development of synthetic fuels and other alternative energy sources, and billions in incentives to oil companies to develop domestic supplies. McCain said he opposed the bill because it was “loaded down with goodies for the oil companies.”

Although he avoided directly accusing Obama of associating with “urban terrorists” during the debate, in every other way McCain was clearly in an attack mode throughout the evening.  Obama, for the most part, ignored McCain’s attempts to injure his reputation or to make him seem inexperienced or unpatriotic. 

At one point when McCain said that he agreed with Teddy Roosevelt that “you speak softly and carry a big stick” and argued that Obama was broadcasting his intent to invade Pakistan to get Osama bin laden and the Taliban, Obama countered by reminding the audience that it was McCain that sang “bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran” to a Beach Boys’ tune - and also threatened to annihilate North Korea.  Obama said that that was not “speaking softly” and was McCain clearly broadcasting his intent to go to war against those countries.  McCain feebly responded that he was just joking with an old service buddy of his when he was singing that little ditty.

The good news was that McCain completely dropped his overuse of the word “maverick” to describe himself and his campaign.  On the other hand, whenever he could not come up with anything specific to describe his plans and programs, he would say repeatedly, “I know how to do that,” or “I know how to deal with those situations.”

Surprisingly, neither McCain or Obama mentioned their Vice Presidential running mates during the debate.  This was a major change for McCain since Sarah Palin had become the centerpoint and driving force of his campaign over the past few weeks.

After the debate was over, McCain and his wife Cindy shook a few hands and briefly waved to the audience before hurriedly leaving the auditorium.  On the other hand, Obama and his wife Michelle remained for over 30 minutes greeting everyone in the audience and allowing pictures to be taken.  It seemed obvious that Obama felt more relaxed and was cordial with the crowd, while McCain seemed to want to get out and away as fast as he could.

According to the CNN Poll, Obama won the debate with 54% of the votes, compared to 30% for McCain.

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