Thursday, April 17, 2008

Philadelphia debate a damp squib as neither Clinton or Obama lands a knock out blow

Hillary Clinton may have shaded the verdict. However she failed to land a knock out punch on Obama. Issues -such as Obama's comments on "bitter small-town Pennsylvanians"; his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.; and the absence of an American flag in his lapel- figured in the debate as did Iraq. However it is unlikely that Clinton gained much political mileage from them.

On the economy both candidates were unconvincing. When asked about McCain's accusations that the Democratic nominee would raise taxes, Clinton ruled out a tax hike on middle-class Americans, whilst Obama claimed that he planned to lower taxes on the middle class, but he left open the option of raising capital gains taxes. Both candidates were economical with the truth. The economic proposals of both envision a greater role for the state in people's lives and a plethora of new programmes and quangos. Such programmes will require an enlarged bureaucracy. Ipso facto taxes must rise under an Obama or Clinton presidency.

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