Student’s Take on Presidential Debates

Throughout all three of the Presidential debates, both candidates had the opportunity to establish themselves and differentiate from their opponent. With both nominees putting everything on the line, there was sure to be very heated discussions. At times, one of the candidate’s methods would be more effective than the other. The diverse techniques used help the candidates connect and appeal to the audience on different levels.

Senator Obama left me feeling impressed while he was representing the Democratic Party and putting his ideas out there. One of the most effective techniques he used was parallel structure. Obama would use this technique to present his thoughts in a clear, free flowing manner that really stuck to the audience. An example of this is when he used parallel structure in the third debate to discuss how if he would increases spending somewhere, he would decrease spending elsewhere. Another strategy of Obama’s that I noticed was that he would often attack McCain and disqualify his arguments. He did this in all three of the debates, but a primary example would in the first debate when he attacked McCain for just wanted to take responsibility when there is a crisis. Obama says as president he will always take responsibility. These techniques left little room for error for McCain.

Senator McCain also did a fine job letting his ideas be known. McCain best technique was when he would use emotional appeal on the audience. This was a very effective technique because he focused specifically on what the listeners wanted to hear about. An example of this was when in the first debate McCain talked about the casualties that could have been prevented during wars. I also concluded that McCain would not assault Obama as frequently as he was attacked. When he did, it was usually in retaliation. An example is how McCain started out very friendly in the first debate but then quickly turned defensive after Obama attacked him. Despite this, Senator McCain’s use of rhetoric was impressive and effective.

Overall, I felt that Senator Obama used the more effective techniques. He would use hints of logical and emotional appeal, plenty of parallel structure and repetition, and he would successfully attack his opposing candidate. The advice I would give to McCain would be to attack Obama a little bit more frequently and to use other techniques like literary devices to make his arguments more effective. Although at times, one candidate’s arguments were more effective than the others, there was never a lack of spirit, and I salute both candidates