(The Verge)-Another debate has passed by and some are still wondering whom they are going to vote for. As we have seen, the town meeting format allowed undecided voters from the Hempstead area to ask questions to Governor Romney and President Obama, but were they fully answered? The answer to that question is absolutely not. There was an incredible amount of sidestepping, topic avoidance and general tomfoolery (for lack of better words).
The more fiery of the two presidential debates thus far, Obama set out to prove that he is not the passive individual that he put on display last time. Although polls are saying it worked out in his advantage, the polls also say that Romney covered almost every topic brought up at the debate that much better than him. Obamas attitude was definitely more confrontational and his movements and the pitter-patter of his feet across the “town hall stage” were evident and real. While we can basically say the same of Romney, the two sparred all night long.
As the debate moved into the questions, there were absolutely no answers from Obama. This was evident when Candy Crowley had to basically reformulate the question and restate it before she handed the floor over to Romney. Seeing the sidestepping in such early stages of the debate was very unsettling. It was during the talk about oil companies and projects that Obama wants to start that we saw Romneys strength: statistics. Romney made it seem so effortless to just keep spitting out stats, and hopefully this appealed to undecided voters. My question for Obama: If you are so worried about the way things are going and you have all of these ‘projects’ in mind, why haven’t you started them already? You have been president for four years.
Moving more into energy, the candidates sparred back and forth a little bit more. When Romney spoke, it was aggressive and confident. Obama spoke confidently as well, but did not stand firm in his word and stuttered more than normal.
Romneys comments about doing more drilling, and working with the pipeline from Canada was gold and his ability to tie it in with jobs identified with the American people. Also at this time, Romney was very forceful and even challenging Obama with questions of his own. A huge strength of Romney’s was during the conversation about oil and gas prices. A short burst of laughter from the crowd was audible when Obama got confident for a second and made some (if I do say so myself here) “comment full of malarkey” about gas prices being low because the economy was on the verge of collapse. I mean come on, what is that?
A motif throughout these debates for me has been: Obama, why do you keep saying that there are things you want to do, when you have been president for four years? Where is the evidence that things have gotten better? The unemployment rate has gone down, yes, but it took 43 staggering months for this to happen and we still aren’t under the 6% that was originally the “hope.”
When speaking about the economy, Romney said that he wants to make sure that we aren’t going down the “road to Greece.” Every one knows that the state of the economy in Greece is awful, so for Romney to bring it down to earth and juxtapose what we have as an economy with Greeces, was an extremely wise choice. Romneys proclamation, “we don’t have to live like this…” and “I know what it takes to balance budgets, ive done it all my life,” were zingers after zingers.
When pay equality for women came up, the topic went awry extremely fast. Obama claimed that he wants to continue “pushing on the issue,” but that wasn’t an answer we were looking for. The person that asked the question asked what he will do to improve. Continuing to push the issue has not worked, and will continue to not work. Also, Obama began to start talking about womens healthcare decisions in the middle of his pay equality rant. Did the question deal with healthcare decisions for women? Personally, I am tired of people making a huge deal of out things that were said to make a point, but only got made into something it didn’t need to be made into (binders).
A positive for both candidates was there ability to address each other, and the audience at all times. When each question was asked, both candidates went over to the person, asked their name and responded to them initially and then casually strolled throughout the floor, very professionally. (Until they started brawling at each other).
The most interesting topic in the debate? Illegal immigration. I would have love to have heard more. The topic was so interesting because we haven’t heard a lot about it thus far and also each candidate started their response with “We are a nation of immigrants…” Hrm.
Shocking, was the noticeably late mention of Libya. I was sitting there the entire time tapping my foot and waiting. This was the best part of the entire debate. Obama completely ignored the question and would not answer who denied security, he even basically asked to move on. Obama then went on to say repeatedly “look at the transcripts” when asked if he actually declared the acts on September 11 with Libya a terrorist attack. It was now when Candy Crowley stepped in a defended Obama, safe to say I was appalled. Coincidentally, in the Rose Garden Obama “spoke loosely about acts of terror” but never actually called the events in Libya a terrorist attack.
Another shocker in the debate but a good move for Romney was the mention of his religion. This showed character and a softer side of him. We can probably say that we were all a little nervous about that. In Obamas round up about his character, he didn’t really mention his resume, but he stood up for what kind of a person he is in true Obama fashion, professionally. Romney defended his character and reinforced that he supports 100% of America, not just 47%, very wise.
One more debate left, who will take it? Less than a months folks, can you believe it?
