When I first heard of this presidential forum, I was confused.  What the heck is ServiceNation and where did it come from?  To be honest, there are things I like about a forum and things I dislike.  It is nice to see a casual question and answer format.  It is, in my opinion, inherently unfair to the first person who gets to sit down as the second person hears what is said and can adjust.  That having been said, I didn’t realize that national service was as big a deal as this forum indicated.

 Should you have missed the live forum last night – which was broadcast on several cable networks, a search on YouTube.com will give you a multi-part upload of several videos for both John McCain and Barack Obama and their respective responses to Judy Woodruff and Rick Stengel.  I am not having as much luck with the ServiceNation site and its archive of the event.

While the candidates took the same questions, it did seem that Obama had a bit more time to prepare as he heard McCain’s answers to the questions.

The event started with a question from Judy Woodruff of PBS.  She phrased it as “after having been at Ground Zero today with Barack Obama, evidence shows the memory of September 11th is receding in regular American.  How do we keep it in the forefront?”

McCain:  We need to commemorate the day.  The best way to honor the memories of those who died and their service to our country is to serve ourselves.  He indicated that other than shopping – a famous quote from George W Bush as a way to get our economy back on track after Sept 11th – he would have issued a call to service and then listed areas that could have benefitted – neighborhood watches, expand AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, military service. 

Obama:  Think of the spirit after September 11th.  We need to figure out how to recreate this and not just during tragedy.  The country yearns for that.  Rather than telling the American people to shop, he would have tapped into that feeling everyone was caught up in – push energy plan as part of service to country, push first responders.

Rick Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine, asked what are the obligations of citizenship in the United States of America.

McCain:  Service to the country is not an obligation and should not be compulsory.  Many current programs that offer volunteer/service opportunities are currently oversubscribed.  McCain cited Teach for America as one example.  He did say that the military needs to do a better job of recruitment and a much better job or retaining military.

Obama:  Obama talked of “active” citizenship.  He discussed individual responsibility and mutual responsibilites.  He also discussed commitments beyond immediate self-interest.

Overall, McCain, in my mind, discussed more specifics.  He talked about the balance between government and the private sector.  He talked about not making a bigger government but allowing the private sector – whether business or faith-based – to fill its role. 

Overall, Obama, who does have a national service plan, wants to involve government in the process more.  He wants to have government basically provide a clearinghouse for opportunities.  His plan has a price tag.