McCain vs Obama

During September 26, 2008, Republican McCain and Democratic Obama had their first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi. Jim Lehrer of the NewsHour on PBS asked both U.S. candidates questions giving each two minutes to speak. The issues discussed focus on foreign policy, economic crisis, spending, energy, education, and health care, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. The purpose for the presidential debate was to persuade the undecided voters to vote. This paper will analyze the manipulation of appearances and reality between McCain and Obama. Both U.S. candidates use strategies to win the election. McCain and Obama differed sharply on issues concerning foreign policy, the Iraq war, spending, tax policy and economic crisis.
Throughout the 90-minute debate, McCain and Obama were both misleading. They want the audience to believe everything they said was true. In one of Philip Zimbardo’s work, he said we should resist unwanted influences. “Think hard before putting abstract principles before real people in following other’s advice to act in specific ways against what they represent (“The Lucifer Effect”).” His purpose was to let the reader to know that we shouldn’t let others tell us what to do. It is very important for everybody to know the difference between right and wrong. In other words, the candidates wanted to influence us in a certain way to vote. We have to think wisely before we decide whom to vote for. Our country would be at risk if a dictator were running our country. There would be many people suffering if the President is not doing his job well. For example, many people could lose their jobs and homes if the taxes are increased for war purposes or to restore the economy.