AFP, OXFORD, Mississippi
US senators John McCain and Barack Obama battled in the shadow of the US finance crisis late on Friday in a first presidential debate crackling with sharp disputes over the economy, Iraq and terrorism.
Democratic Obama, 47, vying to make history as the first black US president, branded McCain as an inheritor of US President George W. Bush’s unpopular legacy of “failed” economic and foreign policies.
Republican McCain presented himself as a reformer and posed as a superior potential commander-in-chief, repeatedly saying Obama did not “understand” foreign policy threats or was “naive” in his outlook to the world.
“I don’t think I need any on-the-job training. I’m ready to go at it right now,” McCain, 72, said.
Both candidates avoided major gaffes in a spirited debate, taking place at a time of deep national peril with the Wall Street crisis threatening to ruin the US economy and millions of working-class jobs.
Obama came across as polished and well briefed and seemed to meet the threshold many analysts set for him going in as a credible future leader of the US.
An instant telephone poll by CNN and Opinion Research Corp scored a decisive win for Obama among 524 debate watchers. Asked who did the better job, 51 percent said Obama and 38 percent said McCain.
McCain steered clear of errors that could be chalked up to his age, looked focused and engaged in the debate, mostly on foreign policy, which both sides see as his strong point.
Obama said the current financial crisis was “the final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush, supported by Senator McCain” and lashed his rival for saying the US economy was fundamentally “strong.”
McCain said Obama had “the most liberal voting record in the Senate. It’s hard to reach across the aisle from that far left,” he said.
He presented himself as a champion of reform and scourge of wasteful spending and defended his sudden return to Washington to deal with the financial meltdown.
Less than 40 days before election day on Nov. 4, differences over the war in Iraq festered throughout the debate on a red carpeted stage at the University of Mississippi.
Obama claimed credit for opposing the invasion in 2003 and McCain said he had been instrumental in pushing the successful surge strategy.
“We are winning in Iraq and we’ll come home. And we’ll come home as we have when we have won other wars, and not in defeat,” McCain said, accusing Obama of denying the achievements of US troops in the war.
But Obama hit back, saying: “Six years ago I stood up and opposed this war,” condemning McCain for standing with Bush over the 2003 US-led invasion to topple Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
“I wish I had been wrong for the sake of the country and they had been right, but that’s not the case,” Obama said.
McCain then attacked Obama’s plan to offer dialogue to Iran.
“It isn’t just naive, it is dangerous,” said McCain, warning that a nuclear armed Tehran threatened a “second Holocaust.”
Obama agreed a nuclear Iran would be a “gamechanger” and urged tougher sanctions. But he also defended his call for diplomacy.
Obama again vowed to attack extremists in Pakistan if Islamabad was unwilling or unable to act, prompting a rebuke from McCain: “You don’t say that out loud.”
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