By Gustav Hollnagel–
The first of four presidential debates is finished and it seems that Mitt Romney has done a little bit better than his opponent, Barack Obama. The president arguably let Romney address vulnerable Democrat principles on the economy, whereas no arguments were made based on Bain Capital or the “47-percent-remark” made by Mitt Romney a few weeks back.
There were three questions on the economy, and one each on political debates around health care, the role of government and governing in general.
Emily Greenlee, a junior at Morningside, said, “I thought both candidates did a good job addressing these issues. With some exceptions, they told us what they were going to do and how that was different than their opponent.”
A lot of the debate about the state and future of the economy centered around the creation of jobs, taxation, use of energy resources, and cutting the deficit which is connected to reduce spending.
Nick Brincks, another junior student, said, “Romney defended his tax plan by saying he won’t offer tax cuts that add to the deficit, and if that’s true, that’s definitely a good thing. But I don’t know if that’s true.”
Most of the political analysts thought that Romney used the opportunity to lay out some of his specific policy plans. However, they also criticized him on changing his policy strategies from explanations he made a few months ago.
Brincks said, “Romney’s had a rough month since the GOP Convention. He needed to come out and have a strong debate and I think he did that. Did he debate well enough to make up for that? I’m not sure about that.”
Considering the very adversarial relationship the two campaigns have had, people also wondered how this would be observable during the debate. Beth Norton, a senior at Morningside, said, “The debate was remarkable civil and felt that the candidates gave each other the appropriate respect. They were dignified in their answers, but did get into a little of the mud slinging. Overall, the point Obama did much better than Romney was in speaking to the television audience and connecting with them.”
Her fellow student Greenlee resonated, “I thought they were really respectful, I mean except for the few interruptions mostly coming from Romney. I really liked that they joked with each other a little bit, too.”
It might be interesting to see how they address each other in the upcoming debate on October 16. People know from experience that either candidate will try to save some of the most critical issues for last to avoid a potential response or to possibly expose some of the inconsistencies in the opponent’s policy plans.
Last night’s debate was one of altogether four 90-minute debates, which include one vice-presidential debate. People should expect the segments to remain centered on the economy, including energy policy, immigration policy and the balancing of the budget.
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