Candidates agree on Iran threat, little else, in first debate; polls give Obama an edge in face-off.
By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER, JPOST CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTONobama mccain 224.88 ap(photo credit: )
The need to protect Israel from the vitriolic threats of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad formed the crux of a central argument between US presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain in their first debate Friday night.
The candidates disagreed over most issues covered - the war in Iraq, Pakistan and the US financial crisis, but agreed a nuclear Iran would pose a grave danger to Israel.
A pair of one-night polls gave Obama a clear edge over McCain in the debate.
Asked for an assessment of the threat Iran poses to the United States, McCain called Teheran's quest for nuclear weapons an "existential threat to the State of Israel" and other countries in the region.
"We cannot allow a second Holocaust," McCain declared.
Obama also stressed, "We cannot tolerate a nuclear Iran. It would be a game-changer. Not only would it threaten Israel, a country that is our stalwart ally, but it would also create an environment in which you could set up an arms race in the Middle East."
Following up on the subject, McCain attacked Obama for his willingness to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"What Senator Obama doesn't seem to understand is that if without precondition you sit down across the table from someone who has called Israel a stinking corpse and wants to destroy that country and wipe it off the map, you legitimize those comments. This is dangerous. It isn't just naive, it's dangerous," McCain said.
Defending the need for tough diplomacy, Obama said, "I reserve the right as president of the United States to meet with anybody at a time and place of my choosing if I think it's going to keep America safe.
"It may not work, but if it doesn't work then we have strengthened our ability to form alliances to impose tough sanctions," he said.
On the war in Iraq, McCain charged that Obama had been wrong not to support the introduction of 30,000 additional troops last year, a move that significantly tamped down violence, and that a precipitous withdrawal would embolden Iran.
Obama, though, lambasted the original strategy, saying that what had strengthened Iran over the last few years was the war in Iraq, which removed its arch enemy from the scene.
Obama acknowledged the situation had improved but said the Iraq war was distracting the US military from going after terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, who was hiding along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
McCain attacked his rival for declaring last year that the US should be pursuing al-Qaida terrorists inside sovereign Pakistan, though the Bush administration later acknowledged taking the same approach, saying, "You don't do that. You don't say that out loud. If you have to do things, you have to do things, and you work with the Pakistani government."
"You're absolutely right that presidents have to be prudent in what they say," Obama responded. "But, you know, coming from you, who, you know, in the past has threatened extinction for North Korea and, you know, sung songs about bombing Iran, I don't know, you know, how credible that is. I think this is the right strategy."
There were several personal attacks in the debate, with McCain repeatedly telling Obama that he didn't "understand" something related to foreign policy or that his approach was "naïve," and citing his own extensive experience to push his point that he has the background necessary to be commander-in-chief.
Obama, in contrast, stressed his judgment on several policies that were once criticized but now embraced by the Bush administration, including sending low-level envoys to talk to Iran. He was more conciliatory toward his competitor, in many cases stressing points of agreement.
The candidates began by focusing on the troubled US economy for more than the first third of their 90-minute debate at the University of Mississippi.
McCain suggested a spending freeze on all federal government programs but defense, veterans affairs and entitlements such as Social Security pension payments and Medicare insurance for the elderly.
Obama said such a move would be like using a hatchet on an ailing patient, the stumbling American economy, when the surgeon needed to be using a scalpel.
The two men stood behind identical wooden lecterns on the stage of a performing arts center at the University of Mississippi for the first of three scheduled debates, with less than six weeks remaining until Election Day.
The two vice presidential candidates will meet in St. Louis on Thursday evening for their only debate.
McCain, 72, is hoping to become the oldest first-term US chief executive in history, and he made a few jokes at his own expense.
"I've been around a while," he said at one point.
"Were you afraid I couldn't hear you?" he said at another after Obama repeated a comment.
Moderator Jim Lehrer's opening question concerned the economic crisis gripping Wall Street. While neither man committed to supporting the bailout legislation taking shape in Congress, they readily agreed lawmakers must act to prevent millions of Americans from losing their jobs and their homes.
Both also said they were pleased that legislators from both parties were negotiating a compromise.
But they clashed over spending, taxes and energy programs, though both stressed the need to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and encourage alternative energy sources.
Fifty-one percent of respondents said Obama did a better job in Friday night's face-off while 38% preferred McCain, according to a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. survey of adults.
Obama was widely considered more intelligent, likable and in touch with peoples' problems, and by modest margins was seen as the stronger leader and more sincere. Most said it was McCain who spent more time attacking his opponent.
About six in 10 said each did a better job than expected. Seven in 10 said each seemed capable of being president.
In a CBS News poll of people not committed to a candidate, 39% said Obama won the debate, 24% said McCain and 37% called it a tie. Twice as many said Obama understood their needs than said so about McCain.
Seventy-eight percent said McCain was prepared to be president, about the same proportion of uncommitted voters as said so before the debate. Sixty percent said Obama was ready - a lower score than for McCain, but a solid 16-percentage-point improvement from before the debate.
In another Obama advantage in the CBS poll, far more said their image of him had improved as a result of the debate than said it had worsened. More also said their view of McCain had gotten better rather than worse, but by a modest margin.
The CNN poll involved telephone interviews with 524 adults who watched the debate and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
The CBS survey involved on-line interviews with 483 uncommitted voters who saw the debate and had an error margin of plus or minus 4 points. It was conducted by Knowledge Networks, which initially selected the respondents by telephone.
Both polls were conducted on Friday night. Polls conducted on one night can be less reliable than those conducted over several because they only include the views of people available that particular evening.
AP contributed to this report
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
