More bailout effects; pressure on Palin

For the past few days, there have been two major recurring issues I have been keeping an eye on. One is a follow-up from previous posts, and the other is fairly new.

• How the bailout proposal has affected Obama and McCain's campaigns
  An article by CNN caught my attention in regards to this issue, bringing up several points which many people might not know about. They are:
  
  1. Obama and McCain's struggle to promote a bipartisan solution to the bailout proposal that failed to pass on Monday, but passed with amendments on Wednesday.
     Everyone realizes how important the economic crisis is, that something needs to be done about it soon. Just last night the $700 billion bailout proposal passed, with amendments to the original which was shot down by Republicans on Monday. In that brief time period, McCain and Obama focused on rallying lawmakers to the mutual cause of a bailout compromise. What did Obama do? "Obama encouraged lawmakers to approve an economic stimulus plan that would benefit taxpayers." How about McCain? Interestingly enough, CNN had nothing to say about what McCain contributed to this bipartisan cause. I also found it worthy to note that the article went on to illustrate in detail how McCain pointed fingers about the original failure of the bill, but only gave brief mention of Obama's finger-pointing before saying that Obama has moved on from the 'blame game' to supporting the bailout bill.
     
     Now more than ever, I am starting to see some of the framing from CNN, how their articles rarely include equal coverage on both candidates. It is obviously a left-wing organization which supports Obama.
     
     
  2. They have "revamped their financial messages this week, shifting away from attacks on each other and intensifying their calls for action from Congress."
     Given McCain's recent failure to gain some credit for the first bailout bill, this seems a risky move. Both candidates are going into this with a notion of reserve; neither wants to get too closely wrapped up in something like that again when the consequences can be devastating. The stakes are just too high. But at least it's nice to know they have stopped bashing each other to address the economy issue on equal terms. Obama is already ahead in this regard since he gained five points over McCain after the bill failed on Monday.
     
     
     
• Sarah Palin's qualifications and knowledge are under heavy speculation; there is a high amount of pressure on her to perform well at tonight's VP debate.
  Here are a few intelligent points from CNN:
  
  1. CNN's Roland Martin says that the McCain campaign made a sour mistake in hiding Palin from the media. She has little experience in that area, and now that she is starting to participate in a few national interviews, her performance has been disastrous. Her interview with Katie Couric has been endlessly criticized for comments such as her suggestion that her state's proximity to Russia enhanced her foreign policy credentials. Will she be able to convince voters in the VP debate this evening? What America wants right now is to know where she stands on the issues, to hear her speak without the aid of a teleprompter, to decide once and for all whether McCain made the right choice in choosing her as his running mate.
     
     
     "What is most at stake is whether she's the subject of further ridicule or can show Americans that she has a strong command of the issues. If she can do the latter, she validates McCain's selection. If not, she calls into question his judgment, and at this stage of the game, that is not a good thing."
  2. Gloria Borger made similar comments, agreeing that the McCain campaign made a mistake in masking Palin. At Palin's breakout performance at the National Convention, she was bold and confident, unafraid to take anyone on. Now she's blubbering through interviews and losing her confidence with each mistake.
     
     
     "[The McCain Campaign has] managed to turn a self-confident and appealing candidate into one who is afraid of veering off her talking points. She's clearly studying and cramming, but it's like trying to cram for an exam when you haven't really taken the class.

     And the more mistakes she makes on her scarce public outings, the more self-assurance she loses. Each mistake becomes magnified, so one mistake could be deadly."
     
     

     Now is the time for Palin to prove to the world that she's worthy of the title of Vice President of the United States. If she does poorly in the debate, it calls McCain's judgment into question--which would be extremely detrimental to his cause.
     
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     Borger, Gloria. " Borger: McCain's bold Palin move becomes a crisis of caution." CNN.com. CNN. 10pm, 2 Oct 2008 <http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/30/borger.palin/index.html#cnnSTCText>.

     Henry, Ed. " Bailout plan forces McCain, Obama into balancing act." CNN.com. 1 Oct 2008. CNN. 10pm, 2 Oct 2008 <http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/01/candidates.bailout/index.html>.

     Martin, Roland. " Commentary: Time for Palin to strut her stuff." CNN.com. CNN. 10pm, 2 Oct 2008 <http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/01/martin.palin/index.html#cnnSTCText>.