Election 2008 | Commentators spar about campaign strategies

By: Joe Frandino

Posted: 10/22/08

Two national political commentators were on campus Tuesday to discuss the U.S. presidential campaign. Both agreed that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will probably win, but said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) still has enough time to make a comeback.

The roundtable discussion pitted Patricia Williams, a liberal law professor at Columbia University with an editorial page in The Nation, against Fred Barnes, a conservative co-host of Fox News' popular political talk show, "The Beltway Boys," and executive editor of The Weekly Standard.

Arthur Brooks moderated the event. Brooks is a business and government policy professor at Syracuse University. More than 100 students, faculty members and Syracuse residents gathered in Hendricks Chapel to watch the discussion.

Topics included the economy, future tax policies, the war in Iraq and the issue of race in the election.

When asked what McCain needs to do to stand a chance of winning the presidential election, both participants posed starkly different paths to potential victory.

"McCain needs to appeal to the 15-20 percent of American voters who are just now tuning into the presidential campaign," Barnes said. "McCain needs a clear, positive, offensive and concise message that he gives to the electorate.

"If I were to ask a dozen of you what John McCain's message has been this election, I'm sure I'd get a dozen different answers," he added.

Williams gave a quick response to the question, yielding a round of applause and laughter from the audience.

"He needs to drop Sarah Palin," Williams said. "He needs to drop her immediately."

But Barnes defended Palin and said she has integrity, political prowess, courage and intelligence. His comments were met with snickers from the audience.

Barnes also raised concerns about Obama's lack of experience in foreign policy and the possibility of third-world dictators challenging his new authority. He cited Nikita Khrushchev's initial "bullying" of John Kennedy in the early months of 1960, giving way to such political catastrophes as the rise of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Williams said Obama has strong international support.

"In a survey conducted of over 120 nations around the globe, I believe Obama only lost South Africa," she said.

When Barnes countered by asking whether it was wise to have the potentially cold-blooded international community choosing the American president, Williams said, "We can't disregard how we will be perceived by the rest of the world. Believe it or not, they're not all our enemies. We're going to have to cooperate with the rest of the world in this international community."

When the discussion opened up to questions from the floor, most audience members gave personal statements regarding their problems with the conservative administration and Fox News. Some asked questions about the vetting of Sarah Palin and rising media biases in news organizations.

Senior magazine journalism major Kate Pennington said the session was informative.

"Both sides were very well spoken and respectful, even though they clearly disagreed with each other on nearly everything," she said. "I'm very happy I battled the weather to make it here."

History professor Margaret Thompson said the speakers were both predictable, even though they were articulate.

"Neither speaker surprised me very much," she said. "It was basically a strict conservative viewpoint against a strict liberal viewpoint."

The night ended with a round of laughter after Barnes' closing statement.

"I'll admit I'm a little disappointed I didn't see Jim Boeheim here," Barnes joked. "He's a fantastic coach here at SU, perhaps he should coach the football team as well."

jafrandi@syr.edu