In the name of Palin and Biden

Anybody who may have watched the much-televised, much publicised (and rightly so) debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden - the VP nominees for the US Republican and Democratic parties respectively - will have been anticipating some glimmer of hope from the Right-Wing that their policies are at least mildly containing substance. Following the glamour and glory of McCain's announcement that the Alaskan Governer Sarah Palin would be his 'veep' - the many gimmicks of her campaign, not least her 'hockey-mom' apparatus - this was finally a chance to match up the intellectual capacities between the two candidates and see who really was the most suitable. This was Biden's chance to show that beyond the cosmetic vision of Palin's deer-hunting facade and the excitement generated by her sexuality that he is actually the right man for the job. For Palin, it was her chance to show her worth being more than merely what she has allowed herself to represent since the Republican conference. She didn't.

Whilst I don't always agree with Biden's opinion, nor all of his policies - his stance alone in debate is proving enough that he can hold himself in debate. No, this isn't always enough - since facade alone doesnt a VP make - but what it does show is an ability to consider a response. Some voters may consider Palin's more haphazard approach of answering a question a plus in that she defies the procedural elegance in debating that establishes a flow of ideas but let this not deter from one simple fact: she cannot and does not answer the question. Biden himself is hardly a spring flower - and his responses too weren't at all perfect - but they were considerably more on the mark.

Another thing to be noticed on the table was the amount of back and forth banter about eachother's parties. Senator Obama voted this, Senator McCain voted this; nay, this isn't about their superiors (hasten to use that term loosely in this case, given the choice we have), this should be about their policies). This thus leads me on to another reason why I was disappointed. This debate, above all, was a chance to show the world and - more importantly -America a little more information about the people behind the party; a little more about the policies behind the people. Up until now, little else has subsided from the oh-so aesthetic elements of Obama's colour and Palin's sexuality. What was attained was really useless banter and what became more a reportage of past voting trends. I almost switched off after twenty minutes, but stayed on for want of a surprise. It never came.

You can see the full video here: Biden/Palin debate