Debate Draws Lively Audience

Students laughed, cheered, applauded and booed as they watched the second debate of the 2008 presidential campaign season between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain at the Institute of Politics last night.

Throughout the debate, which drew a full house to the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, the crowd was reactive to the free-flowing questions from moderator Tom Brokaw of NBC. The debate’s questions, approved by the moderator, were selected from the 80-member “uncommitted” crowd and online submissions.

The candidates sparred on major campaign issues, often questioning each other’s truthfulness and ignoring time restraints.

Kennedy School student Johnny R. Falla said that the “light atmosphere” encouraged the audience to react to the debate as it progressed.

The senators, he said, also seemed more comfortable at this debate which allowed for more opportunities for humor.

In the 90-minute event, hosted by Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., McCain compared examining Obama’s tax proposals to “nailing Jell-o to the wall.”

In Obama’s response, he charged that McCain’s depiction of his statements had not been entirely accurate.

“The straight talk express lost a wheel on that one,” he said.

The tone became more serious, though, when the opponents questioned each other’s records.

Kennedy School student Sam H. Sanders said he thought McCain crossed a line when he called Obama “that one” while questioning his record. He said calling Obama “that one” showed “a lack of respect.”

Harvard’s resident partisans were eager to praise their respective faction’s performance.

“I think Senator McCain did a great job,” said Republican Club President Colin J. Motley ’10. Because it was a town hall debate, it particularly allowed McCain an opportunity to show that he is “really in touch with the American people.”

A key point to take away from the debate, Motley said, was that McCain’s talk “largely reflects what his record is.”

In stark contrast, Harvard Dems President Jarret A. Zafran ’09 said he thought that the night’s debate proved that “John McCain is on the wrong side of history.”

Zafran said that McCain needed this debate to be a “game changer” but felt that it had not happened.

“[McCain’s] back is really against the wall,” Zafran said.