Social networks are on fire, blogs are spewing opinions, talk shows are writing hasty monologues, and 60 million viewers are still reeling from the October 3, 2012 Presidential Debate.
Of course the debate started out happy and polite, with a sweet shout out from the president to his first lady, “And so I just want to wish, Sweetie, you happy anniversary and let you know that a year from now we will not be celebrating it in front of 40 million people.” but, as with all good things, cordiality quickly ended and the scowls soon commenced.
Questions about taxes, the economy, and health care were all addressed, or rather, fought over until the audience was more confused than before the questions were asked. The candidates went in so many circles, they left viewers dizzy and a little more frustrated than comforted. I am confident that Mr. Obama’s fellow Harvard graduated had no problem deciphering the political chatter, but as for those less educated individuals, such as I, it was not clear as to what exactly the candidates were trying to prove. This was not just a political debate; it was a catfight, the kind that wakes one up in the middle of the night, screaming.
Taxes—it is such a dirty word. It was also the most heatedly debated topic of last night’s debate. Mr. Obama addressed the issue first, “I think we’ve got to invest in education and training. I think it’s important for us to develop new sources of energy here in America, that we change our tax code to make sure that we’re helping small businesses…” Yes, our education is suffering, our small businesses are suffering, and we are sucking up natural resources, and President Obama claims he has the answer–small businesses, good education, and energy; it is time to make them a priority. But Governor Romney was not going to let Obama outshine him, and claimed “…Virtually everything [Obama]…said about [his] tax plan [was] inaccurate…” Romney went forward to defend his tax plan and ensure the country that their wallets are safe, “I won’t put in place a tax cut that adds to the deficit…I will not reduce the share paid by high-income individuals… I will not under any circumstances raise taxes on middle-income families.”
The candidates were quick in the defense of their politics and even faster to accuse their opponent’s. “You’ve been president four years. You said you’d cut the deficit in half. It’s now four years later. We still have trillion-dollar deficits.” jabs Romney. President Obama counters, “When I walked into the Oval Office, I had more than a trillion-dollar deficit greeting me. And we know where it came from: two wars that were paid for on a credit card; two tax cuts that were not paid for; and a whole bunch of programs that were not paid for; and then a massive economic crisis.”. Mr. Obama frequently referred to the successes of his presidency, “I worked with Democrats and Republicans to cut a trillion dollars out of our discretionary domestic budget. That’s the largest cut in the discretionary domestic budget since Dwight Eisenhower.”, and Mr. Romney to the highlights of his term as governor, particularly the fact that Massachusetts is number one for education in The United States, of which he reminded us twice.
Throughout the debate the opposing candidate smiled awkwardly and grimaced as his nemesis tore apart his political stances. Not a soul envied Jim Lehrer last night as he attempted to calm the candidates and address the issues. Neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. Romney was willing to let their opponent have the last word-even when it meant talking over each other.
The president is supposed to represent all peoples, even Donald Trump who was mentioned by both candidates, and each candidate tried their best to prove that he was the man for the job. The methods used may be questionable, but in the end, both tried to bring the attention back to us, the voter. As the saying goes, only time will tell what the 2012 election holds for The United States.
