Debatable outcome

Recently, I attended a presidential debate held at the Chizuk Amuno Congregation in Baltimore County. If anyone was watching television, you will know that the presidential nominees, U.S. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) were no way near the Mid-Atlantic. On this night, McCain was represented by Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) and Obama was represented by U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Baltimore). Obviously, I cannot do justice to a two-hour forum, so I will just give a couple of highlights that stuck out to me in addition to my impressions.

Gov. Ehrlich speaking of how McCain's time in a POW camp in Vietnam was an example of the former fighter pilot's mental toughness.  He also said of McCain, "I do not always agree with him, but he has been steadfast."

Change was the central theme of Sen. Cardin's remarks. As a matter of fact, he proclaimed, "We need a change in leadership in Washington." Cardin brought up the fact that McCain has supported President Bush a lot (to say the least.) Let's be honest about this, how many times have fellow party members agreed with each other. Democrats in Maryland agreed to support then-Gov. Parris Glendening, despite the anti-Parris sentiment at the time. The only reason why the Obama camp is bringing McCain's "support" record is because Bush is unpopular and a lame duck.

Toward the end of his opening statement, Cardin talked about the war in Iraq being a critical decision, something I happen to agree with him with. I was with the junior senator until he said, "George Bush got it wrong." Not only do I disagree with that assessment, but a later assertion that was made about the war being lost is completely bunk.  Not only are we winning, but I would suggest that Mr. Cardin get the updated talking points. The guy he was advocating for said on a Fox News Channel interview with Bill O'Reilly that the surge worked beyond anyone's hopes, including Presient Bush.

For the most part, Ehrlich tried to give McCain his own voice. There was a couple of times where the Governor pointed out that he was giving his own view, Cardin towed the party line throughout the night, including one instance where he improperly gave credit to the Democrats for keeping the budget balanced during the 1990s. Wasn't the Congress in GOP hands during much of that time?  I'm sorry, I digressed.

There was one question that came from the audience asking how the respective candidates would handle the collapse of Lehman Brothers in addition to finding a way to boost consumer confidence. To his credit, Ehrlich said that he did not know the answer. Cardin, in my view, did not know the answer either. It did not stop him from saying that Obama disagreed with McCain about the economy being sound.  McCain has since did an about face on that one.

When the night was over, neither man to me seemed to have dominated the forum. The format did not really allow for the surrogates to directly challenge each other.  I will say that if I had to give a win to anyone, it would have to be Ehrlich. That is not because of me being a conservative or being on his radio show earlier this year or the fact that I had a picture taken with him or his wife Kendel. 

Truth be told this was more of an ugly win than anything, similar to last year's Monday night game between Pittsburgh and Miami. That was the one where it was scoreless for the entire game, except for the last 17 seconds when Pittsburgh scored the only points of the game.

Ehrlich was able to point to a couple of items that McCain took the lead on, in addition to pointing out his past legislative accomplishments. Cardin for the most part talked about the issues Obama disagreed with McCain on and said that Obama would change how things were ran, without naming specifics. It should be noted that Senator Cardin did point that Obama did take the lead on sanctioning Iran in the Senate. The Iran Sanctions Enabling Act of 2007 was indeed sponsored in the senate by the junior Illinois Senator, but nothing came after the bill's introduction in May of 2007.

P. Kenneth Burns is a broadcaster and journalist who blogs at Maryland Politics Today and blog.kennyburns.com. His email is kenny@kennyburns.com.