Before Obama and McCain faced off for the final time, some of Cleveland’s own politically active youth had a debate of their own. ideastream’s Gretchen Cuda reports on the showdown between the young republicans and young democrats of Cleveland that preceded last night’s presidential debate.
Three representatives from each party took the stage on the lower level of the downtown restaurant. Even before they began to speak, it wasn’t hard to tell which was which. On the right were two white guys and a blonde woman. On the left, three men of color. The goal? To stir up an audience of politically savvy twenty and thirty-somethings.
Things started off bland – each regurgitating more or less the party position on things like green energy and economics, and then a Thione Niang took the microphone and things got interesting.
NIONG: Just go a little bit to the east side of Cleveland. You’ll find young people in Cleveland that live in the same conditions that I was living in Africa. I’m not from here y’all. I’m from Africa. I came here with twenty dollars.
What had gotten Niong so fired-up was the republican assertion that Obama’s plans for economic and social reform were too expensive. Compared to the Iraq war, Niong fired back, those plans were cheap.
NIONG: Guess what. The American people has been bankrupt for a LONG TIME. I know myself I been having money problems for a long, long time. (laughter)
On the subject of healthcare, republican Candice Miller bashed the socialized medical systems of Canada and Europe, argued that stripped-down healthcare plans that only offered the bare minimum coverage were a much better solution to the problem of the uninsured, and that if given the choice, anyone in those countries would prefer to be treated in the United States. Democrat Aqib Sakhia said he knew a few Canadians who would beg to differ – but again it was Thione Niang who got the crowd going when his mic cut out in the middle of his argument.
NIONG: Why you gotta turn me off? Come on man give me a minute! That’s the republicans doing that.
REP: We’re just trying to do energy conservation (laughter)
And conservation was definitely a theme. Take republican Joe Amschlinger’s response to the rising costs of higher education
AMSCHLINGER: McCain has said, I’m going to cut spending. You want to go to grad school? Sorry, you’re going to have to sacrifice for it. Plasma TV, Tuition Payment? Car, take the RTA.
And when it came to foreign policy democrat Aquib Sakhia had equally strong views.
SAKHIA: We’re not running a third grade class, where it’s we won’t talk to you until you’ve sat in the corner and thought about what you did. It’s that type of foreign policy that got us into this mess. If Richard Nixon could talk with Brezhnev, Ronald Reagan could meet with Mikhail Gorbachev and bring about change, we can go and sit down with Iran.
And while their political views may be no closer those of Ahmadinejad and Bush, the young republicans sat down with the young democrats of Cleveland, argued, shook hands, and came away smiling. If world leaders can follow their example, perhaps there IS hope for peace after all. Gretchen Cuda, 90.3