by JASMINE ELSHAMY Staff Writer
The two presidential candidates, President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney, had the first presidential debate of this campaign October 3 at the University of Denver in Colorado.
Many people have come to the conclusion that Romney won the debate because of his commanding performance and confident stage presence. His preparation was very obvious in his answers to the moderator, and he seemed very at ease up at the podium, carrying a nice little smirk on his face when he was interrupting Obama mid-sentence.
Romney gave vague descriptions about what his plans were for taxes and the deficit in this country, and took every opportunity to attack what Obama has done wrong in the past four years. Well, when you leave a new president with trillions of dollars in debt, two wars in the Middle East, and countless of other mistakes made by the clueless Republican that was voted into power for two terms, it is not easy to get a lot done, Mittens.
Romney may have had a powerful presence on stage, but along with his indistinct answers about his plan for this country, another was how he spoke of taxes and how Obama has not done as much as he has claimed to have done for the middle class.
“Under the president’s policies, middle-income Americans have been buried,” Romney said. “They’re just being crushed. Middle income Americans have seen their income come down by $4,300. This is a tax in and of itself. I’ll call it the economy tax. It’s been crushing.”
Obama had a chance to get Romney back by hammering home the fact that Romney has been very obscure in explaining just how he would pay for an across the board 20 percent tax cut without cutting cherished tax deductions. Obama also had many opportunities during the debate to bring up Romney’s unforgettable comments about the “people that play the victims” in this country, the 47 percent who do not pay income taxes.
Obama did not do an awful job at the debate. There were a few setbacks for our dear Mr. President. For one, it was the poor guy’s 20th anniversary with First Lady Michelle Obama. For another, he has been kinda sorta running a country here. All Romney has been running is his mouth.
Mr. President was faced with an energetic, ready-to-go, cocky opponent who had done much to prepare. It seems as if Obama thought that he could go into this debate and just get it done like it was nothing, just another speech that he could superbly captivate the audience with, like he always manages to do. This time, his confidence was shaken, and he was challenged by a well-prepared opponent, and he did not have an audience to feed off of like he usually does.
At the same time, Romney should not be expecting the president to make a mistake twice. Obama got a bit of a wake-up call early, while he was still ahead in the polls. This Harvard graduate is a smart man, and he knows what to do and not to do in the next debate. If he needs any help figuring it out, there are more than enough articles, tweets, and statuses waiting to tell him how to do it.
Lastly, I would like to note that having a man who basically wants to control women’s ability to do what they want with their reproductive organs, refuses to accept gay marriage, and thinks that those who get paid under $50,000 a year are victims scares me, and if Romney wins this election, that really goes to show what the people in this country want for themselves and for those around them.