FREE ESSAY ON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES

Presidential Debates
Making a decision is a very important part of life that every person, at one time or
another, has to make. Options are always available when someone has to make a decision.
In choosing a President for our country, we have to look at our candidates and decide
which ones beliefs can help the country the most. We get to hear the President's opinions
through the debates. This year, although we had numerous candidates, the only two that
were allowed to participate in the debates was Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor
George Bush. 
The first debate was held at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. There was no
clear and obvious winner in this debate. The debate featured a lot of bickering by both
candidates as Gore questioned Bush's experience and his proposals and Bush focused on the
Vice President's character and his abilities in the past eight years. He attacked Gore
for his involvement in the Buddhist temple fundraising event in 1996. He said, I felt
like there needed to be a better sense of responsibility of what was going on in the
White House. It is really a shame that the Republicans have to start condemning little
things when they cannot find anything wrong with the policies. They did not see anything
wrong with what Bill Clinton has done in the past eight years so they start denouncing
him for the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
The Texas Governor also believed that Gore had had his chance for the past eight years
but had not done anything he had promised. One of the most important issues for the
candidates and the voters is the way the way they control foreign policy. When asked if
they would use force to remove Slobodan Milosevic, both said they would not, but Bush
said that he would ask Russia to mediate in the talks. This led Gore to point out that
Russia has a tendency to support Milosevic at times.
A poll was taken after a debate asking people whom they thought had won the debate.
Forty-two percent of the people believed that Gore had won, while thirty-nine percent
believed it was Bush. Nineteen percent believed it was a tie.
While the second debate at Wake Forest University was the least exciting and was gone
over very politely by both candidates, the third debate at Washington University in St.
Louis featured the most arguing between the two. Bush tried to illustrate himself as a
leader who would reach across party lines and bring the nation together. Bush also
believed that, although, both of them could talk and make promises, he could actually get
it done. On the other hand, Gore tried to portray Bush as someone who would lend a
helping hand to big, corporate companies. After feeling the pressure from the first two
debates, Gore came out very aggressive and put the governor on the defensive. When asked
about affirmative action, Bush said he was not in favor of it because he did not like
quotas. He said, "Quotas are bad for America. It's not the way America is all about." He
said that he was in favor of "affirmative access." To that Gore responded, "I don't know
what affirmative access means — I do know what affirmative action means. I know the
governor's against it and I know that I'm for it." In a post debate poll taken, both
candidates got forty-one percent while fourteen percent of the people called it a tie. 
For more then three months, the polls had been showing a dead heat between the candidates
and even after the election, it still stands this way. You have to wonder if both these
candidates are worthy or not good enough to be president. I would have to choose the
latter. Both these candidates came at a time when they have to follow one of the greatest
presidents in our history. I believe that it is wrong that other candidates such as Ralph
Nader and Pat Buchanan do not get a chance to show what they stand for by participating
in the debates. I can surely say that whoever eventually wins the election will not be
reelected in 2004 becase of the nature of this election.