In the third and final presidential debate of the 2004 campaign,
President Bush and his Democratic opponent Sen. John Kerry faced
off on domestic issues, repeatedly returning to health care and
education with interludes into a discussion of foreign policy.
Kerry kicked off the debate with a promise to make the United
States more secure and, in what proved to be a trend for the
remainder of the evening, called on the conflict in Iraq and the
war on terror to support his point.
“I believe that this president … rushed us into a war,
made decisions about foreign policy, pushed allies away,”
Kerry said at the outset of the debate to explain why America is
less secure than it has been in the past.
Likewise, Bush accused his opponent of having a faulty security
plan that would endanger American safety.
“I don’t think you can secure America for the long
run if you don’t have a comprehensive view,” Bush said,
adding that he did not think Kerry takes the threat of terrorism
seriously.
Throughout the evening, Kerry seemed to be most comfortable when
discussing his plans for health care, repeatedly bringing the
discussion back to this point.
“This really underscores the problem with the American
health care system,” Kerry said of the shortage of the flu
vaccine this year. “It’s not working for the American
family and it’s gotten worse.”
“The fact is that my health care plan is very simple: it
gives you the choice,” Kerry said. “You choose your
doctor, you choose your plan.”
Bush presented a very different diagnosis for the problem with
the health care system and a very different cure.
The president pointed to the torrent of lawsuits facing medical
professionals as one of the biggest problems with health care in
the United States.
“The lawsuits are causing health care costs to rise in
America. That’s why I’m such a strong believer in
medical liability reform,” Bush said.
Even so, the president was optimistic about the state of heath
care in the United States, calling it “the envy of the
world.”
Kerry’s repeated emphasis on health care often came at the
avoidance of other issues, said Arleen Leibowitz, a UCLA professor
of public policy.
The difficulty that Kerry will have in funding his health care
proposals may be another weakness he displayed in the debate.
“I think (Bush) scored points when he talked about the
fact that Kerry’s health plan would be expensive and it
wasn’t clear where the money was coming from,”
Leibowitz said.
Bush repeatedly pointed to his educational reforms as being
successful, as well as to being a key to solving other economic and
social problems in the country.
“Bush was very clear that he felt education was
important,” said Henry Brady, a professor of political
science and public policy at UC Berkeley.
“Education is how to help the person who has lost his
job,” Bush said. He also pointed to education as being the
key to solving racial and economic problems for many people in the
United States.
The success of the No Child Left Behind act was hotly debated
throughout the evening.
Bush emphasized the success of the reform in improving education
for children by measuring their skills early and spending money to
correct any problems a child might have.
The most important considerations, he said, are “to make
sure that the education system works, to make sure we raise
standards.”
But, like Kerry’s focus on health care, Bush may have
rested too heavily on his educational programs during the
debate.
“His technique was to bring again and again any question
about economy back to education,” Brady said.
Kerry was much less optimistic about the educational reform than
his opponent, accusing Bush of having failed to back up the reforms
with financial support.
“The president, who talks about No Child Left Behind,
refused to fully fund by $28 billion that particular
program,” Kerry said. “The president reneged on his
promise to fund No Child Left Behind.”
The two candidates also displayed distinctly opposing viewpoints
on many other domestic issues facing the American public, such as
job loss, gun control, abortion and immigration.
Kerry continued to present himself as the man who would advocate
for the workers and the American family.
“I’m going to fight for a fair trade playing field
for the American workers,” Kerry said, adding he would roll
back the tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals in favor of a
system that would be oriented toward the middle and lower
classes.
Kerry also emphasized his plan to increase the national minimum
wage to $7 an hour, which Brady said was one of his strongest
points.
The two candidates also expressed very different views on
abortion.
“A hospitable society is a society in which every being
counts, every person matters,” Bush said, representing the
segment of society which calls for a reduction or elimination of
abortion in the United States on the grounds that the fetus
deserves the respect of living beings.
Bush pointed to adoption and abstinence programs as viable ways
to reduce the amount of women who have abortions.
In the other camp, Kerry advocated for abortion rights.
“I believe that choice is a woman’s,” Kerry
said, adding that he would oppose any legislation that would limit
a woman’s ability to make that choice.
Both candidates put on quite a good performance in
Wednesday’s debate, Brady said, adding that he did not see a
clear “winner.”
But in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted immediately after
the debate, 53 percent thought Kerry did better in the debate
versus only 39 percent who thought Bush had, which may give the
senator an advantage heading in to the final three weeks of
campaigning.