OBAMA, ROMNEY BATTLE IN DEBATE
As storm clouds gathered around the first presidential debate, Republican challenger Mitt Romney wasted little time in attacking U.S. President Barack Obama’s economic record, charging that “middle income families are being crushed” by Obama’s economic policies.
Echoing the words of Vice-President Joe Biden, he said Obama’s policies were burying the middle class under the weight of mounting energy costs and debt.
He attacked Obama for his failure to reduce the $16-trillion deficit, saying each year he is adding to it and that Obama’s policies are “not going to cut it with the American people.”
His criticism of Obama was sweeping and unrelenting and easily deflected Obama’s counter punches, which often seemed hesitant and seemed as if they might lose listeners in a sea of details.
Romney promised to award the middle class substantial tax cuts that he said will help them pay for rising energy and utility costs and “put the country on a path of growth.”
He charged that Obama’s economic plan will harm small business and thereby not create jobs.
“I’m not looking to cut massive taxes,” he said, adding that his “underlining principle” is not to hand out tax cuts that will increase the deficit.
Obama remained calm throughout the onslaught, pressing forward with his charge that Romney’s proposal for $5 billion in tax cuts will increase the deficit, further stall the economy and, in the long-term, burden the middle class.
Romney denied that he is looking for a $5-billion tax cut, saying “that’s not my plan.”
“My priority is putting people back to work. . . . We have 23 million people out of work,” he said.
Obama said taxes have to be increased for people earning more than $200,000 a year and that this will help lower the deficit and help finance important education and public-health programs.
Romney said he will cut any program that will increase the deficit. “I’m not going to keep on spending money on things we need to borrow money from China to pay for.”
Obama blamed former president George W. Bush for the deficit. He said it came from two wars “that were paid for on a credit card ... and then a massive economic crisis.”
“You have been president for four years and you said you would cut the deficit in half and you haven’t done it,” Romney said. “We still show trillion-dollar deficits every year.”
“We all know we have to do more,” Obama said, adding that his program will cut the deficit in half by 2016.
The debate clarified the deep gulf between the two candidates on almost all fundamental issues and the role of government in them. Obama argued that government has an important role in helping the economy and improving the lives of Americans by helping establish businesses and finance their health care when they are unable to finance it themselves.
Romney said private business should play the largest role in both economic and social issues. He said the federal government’s primary responsibility is to protect the constitution and to not get in the way of a citizen’s pursuit of happiness.
Areas such as public health care should be left to the states, he said. “The right answer for government is to say how do we make private industry more effective,” he said.
On the issue of partisan government, Romney said he will sit down with Democratic leaders each week to work on a collaborative basis.
Often appearing breathless, he said, “we need to have leadership in government.”
“Governor Romney will have a busy first day because he will repeal Obamacare, which will not be very popular with Democrats,” Obama said.
Obama said there will always be fights between the two parties, particularly when the Republicans stand firm and refuse to budge on issues such as reining in Wall Street.
“Governor Romney hasn’t displayed a willingness to say no to certain components in the Republican party,” he said.
In this heavyweight presidential battle, the pressure was on Romney to introduce himself to the American people and prove that he has what it takes to lead the country to a more prosperous future.
He had to come out fighting, and he clearly answered the bell, often appearing to push a Obama into a corner.
In his closing statements, Obama said he was “not a perfect president” but his promise is that he will always continue to fight for the American people. He stared into the camera, seemingly caught in Romney’s continuous attack.
Romney, on the other hand, kept up his attack, painting a scary scenario if Obama is re-elected.“I am concerned about the direction America has been taking in the last four years,” he said. He claimed that his policies will lead America in a very different direction.
“There is no question in my mind that if the president were to be reelected you will continue to see a middle class squeeze with incomes going down and prices going up. You will see chronic unemployment. We have 43 straight months of unemployment above eight per cent. If I am president, I will help create 12 million new jobs in this country.”
He claimed that if Obama is reelected people will see their health premiums rise by $2,500 per family and some people will lose their health care. Americans will see “dramatic cuts to our military.”
“I will not cut our commitment to our military,” he said.
Behind in the critical swing-state polls, Romney has to appeal to the five per cent of voters who remain undecided. “They are undecided because they are less engaged in the political system and they haven’t been following the race that closely,” Peter Hanson, a University of Denver political scientist said. “Chances are they might not even watch tonight’s debate, but they may hear about it from colleagues. They may catch a clip on the news, they may have family members that talk about it. So what happens at the debate will filter back to them one way or another. And that kind of discussion after the fact and also the way the media characterizes the debate can help to shape the opinion of those undecided voters.”
Romney is definitely behind the 8 ball. Polls show he is losing the race.
While some polls indicate Romney is behind in the national race only by two or three points, polls of the critical swing states where this election will be decided, had shown him tanking.
“The national polls are not the right place to look right now,” Hanson said. “That’s because most states are not competitive. We know how California is going to vote; we know how Texas is going to vote. What we really need to pay attention to is what is happening in the eight or so swing states in the country. The demographic actors are clearly very important. So Colorado, for example, is a competitive state in part because of our growing Latino population, which is about 21 per cent. So that is clearly going to have a big impact on the election.”