By Uzma Hafeez
“When they go low, you go high”
The words of Michelle Obama when uttered by Hilary Clinton in response of Trump’s allegations on Bill Clinton were appreciated by the audience with stormy applause. Drama, allegations, smiles, anger, applause, accusations; the second presidential debate had it all. While the stage was set for the hot debate by Trump’s press conference, the debate was much occupied with Hillary’s email controversy and Trump’s demeaning remarks on women.
Donald Trump’s remarks have cost him much as many of the Republicans have stopped supporting Trump’s campaign but the question is: “Is that the point of concern for Trump’s voter?” We have to understand the psychology of Trump’s voters. Trump’s voters claim to be more realistic, they want to see the world as it is and not by the ideals which have always been the center of talk but never been implemented practically. They can easily get away with Trump’s such remarks, which he called “the locker room talk” in the debate, as a private conversation. To some extent its true, the world is not as beautiful as we want to see; morally people are not as strong as we wish them to be. But here we are not talking about any ordinary person, it’s about the American President who is going to steer not only the USA but the whole world. Being an American President you should be morally as strong as we wish you to be. Unfortunately the moral strength is not the forte of both the Presidential candidates this time. For me it’s about choosing the lesser evil, for the lack of better word, candidate as far as moral grounds are concerned.
In the first Presidential debate Trump was claimed to be on a losing side by most of the political pundits but this time Donald Trump emerged much stronger than before. While everyone was expecting to see an injured horse, he emerged as a winning horse, at least for this debate. He was witty, arrogant, interrupter and harsh; Yes! Donald Trump was back and that too in action. Apart from the question about Syrian fiasco, he managed to perform in a way he is famous for. On the other hand Hilary Clinton was much calm, composed and patient. She was smiling throughout the debate and was relaxed. By and large everyone is claiming that Clinton is far ahead in this presidential race and in my opinion the credit goes to Donald Trump. Had it not be Donald Trump on opposing, Clinton would have not been in such a stronger position. Clinton’s knowledge about foreign policy was commendable and her vision of America as a home to all kinds of Americans is a strength of Clinton’s Presidential campaign.
Donald Trump tried to prove his point of being victimized by media and anchors by saying its “three on one”, pointing the two anchors and Hilary. He repeatedly said that he was not given enough time while Hilary was given more time and was not interrupted during her answers. The most interesting part of the debate was the time when Trump showed his wish to persecute Hillary for deleting her emails which was poorly responded by Hilary yet her calm and control on her nerves was appreciable.
The second Presidential debate for choosing America’s 45th President was pretty much occupied with the allegations and accusations. It seemed that the candidates were exerting more efforts to show how much incompetent the opposing candidate is, instead of highlighting their ability to sail the most dangerous ship of the world i.e. American “President-ship”.
Uzma Hafeez is a Sydney-based freelancer who writes on various subjects ranging from political and social to business issues.
