The final debate: McCain threw punches, but didn’t get a knockout

Tonight was the final opportunity for both candidates to make their cases to the American people. As I predicted earlier this afternoon, McCain came out on the offensive early and often, citing malicious Obama ads, as well as Obama’s connection with Bill Ayers and ACORN. But did it work?

Obama was often defending himself and his policies against McCain, but McCain stayed strong on his concept of reforming Washington. When moderator Bob Scheiffer spoke of reducing our reliance on foreign oil, McCain said that he believes we can eliminate our reliance on countries like Iraq and Venezuela for their oil in 10 years. Obama said he believes in offshore drilling, a concept he was initially against earlier in his campaign, but wants to focus on solar, wind, and geothermal sources of energy. He went on to say we need to hold Detroit accountable for making cars for the future.

On healthcare, both men outlined their plans, and then things then got testy, with both sides unleashing attacks. Obama said that McCain’s plan wont be covering the elderly, and that McCain will be taxing healthcare plans. McCain said that Obama’s plan forces small business owners to give employers healthcare, and if they don’t they will be fined. McCain made the point that he wants to take the government out of healthcare, and that Obama wants the government heavily involved.

The candidates also went back and forth on abortion and education. McCain continued to make strong points against Barack Obama, but Obama was able to hold his ground against McCain’s onslaught. But at the end of the debate, at least in this writer’s view, no ground had been gained nor given by either candidate.

-JP