Before I begin this I have to point out that everything below is only my opinion and does not reflect the opinions of ‘Pushing Dope’ as a whole.
Thank you.
Now to begin! I was excited to watch the debate and to hear what both candidates had planned, to change the country. Everyone American knows that our economy is bad, our health care needs reform, and so does our education. I thought it would be very interesting to hear the actual course of action they would take to fix the problems we have. The candidates seemed to repeat themselves on the same issues over and over again and sometimes ignoring the questions that were asked by the moderator and instead just trying to go against the points the other candidate made. For example, the moderator asked one of the candidates (I forgot who lol) to ask the other one a question on one of their policies. Did that happen? NOPE. Instead what we got was a whole bunch of rebuttal to the negative things that were said about their policies. Simply ignoring the question all together. I tried to jot down some of the points each candidate made repetitively.
Obama:
- Reduce the deficit
- Decrease the corporate take rate
- Investing in future energy resources
- Compared his plan for economic growth to former president Bill Clinton’s plan (He did this twice…maybe more)
- Lowering taxes on the middle class
- Increasing taxes on the upper class
- Continuously mentioned Romney’s $5 Trillion tax cut
- Romney says he has a plan but can never gives detail on exactly what he plans to do
- Romney’s economic plan creates no revenue
- More funding for Pell
Romney:
- Says that he does not have a $5 trillion tax cut
- Crack down on China
- Balance the budget by closing the loop holes.
- Maintain small businesses and help create more small businesses
- Will not change the tax rate to the upper class
- Mistakenly said poor instead of lower class.
- Wants to create oil pipeline from Alaska and Canada
- Continuously stressed creating more jobs
- Countries debt is a moral issue not an economic issue
- Wants to combine city agencies to cut cost
- Said Obama did not keep his promise of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his term
- Claimed that Obama gave banks blank checks to bail themselves out
- Claimed Obamacare is expensive and does not save families money
- States should have control of the health care plans for their citizens
- Cut the funding for Pell
(Highlights from the debate)
Though both candidates made sure they got their points across every time they got to speak I think this debate went poorly. The moderator basically let the candidates control the debate. He could barely get them to stop talking and when he did get them to stop talking and tried to ask them a new question they would interrupt him and talk over him. Even at one point when he tried to cut in when president Obama was speaking because he went over his limit, the president basically told nicely to just keep his mouth shut and sit in that chair because he’s going to get his point across no matter what. Of course, those where not his exact words but that’s how I felt he said it to the moderator. The moderator just became a spectator by the end of the debate.
I must say Romney was the most enthusiastic of the candidates. Obama is usually very passionate when he speaks and during the debate he wasn’t. He seemed to “cool” about everything and Romney was out with his big guns ready for war. He knew that he had to come out strong in this debate and he definitely did. Maybe Obama really did wish he didn’t spend his 20th anniversary debating with his opponent or maybe he just wasn’t having a good day that day. I know this one thing the media did notice his attitude during the debate and they will use this to their advantage to take him down until the next debate. I just hope that he brings that passion and determination to the next debate scheduled for next week.
Obama did bring up a very valid point about Romney’s plan. Romney continues talks about a plan to decrease the deficit, add jobs, and close the loopholes corporations take advantage of but simply never had any details of his plan or how it would work. He had no evidence to show the effectiveness of his supposed plan and Obama made sure he came out with numbers to show how his plans would work or are working to help Americans. I found it very interesting that Obama compared his plan to former president Clinton’s plan. If I am correct he actually is the only president that balanced the budget and even had a surplus. I found this interesting because people remember the time when Clinton was president and the economy was doing well, people had jobs, and the middle class was doing great. Clinton’s presidency is seen somewhat as the glory days and for Obama to compare his plan to Clinton’s is a very smart tactic I believe. He is reminding the people about the times where there wasn’t so much economic downfall and reminding them about the good ole days, and who doesn’t want the good ole days back?! Such a very smart tactic by Mr. President and his team. Also, Romney definitely put his foot in his mouth by saying poor instead of lower class or I believe lower income people. He tried to save himself by correcting himself but it was too little too late. Luckily for him the president was on an off day so maybe it flew over some viewers head. Romney had fire in his eyes, a pep in his step, and talking like a winner, it may have been a great distraction from his flaws in his debate.
I honestly hope for the next debate, scheduled for Oct 11th that the moderator (which will be a female this time I believe) will keep both candidates in check and make sure they do not go over their limits to talk. Many media outlets talked about how Obama was allowed 4 minutes to talk at one point when he’s only supposed to be allowed 2 minutes. I understand that both candidates are to to rebut the falsities of what the other candidate is saying but ignoring the moderator just makes them go back and forth about the same things over and over again. I don’t know about anybody else but for me that was the most annoying part. I wanted them to make their points and focus on the questions being asked instead of just going back and forth and saying the same things over and over. Also, I will hope that president Obama comes with a pep in his step and fire in his eyes like Romney did on Wednesday. I actually hope both of the candidates come well prepared and LISTEN to the moderator. The moderator is there for a reason!
Until next time!
