n Thursday, October 4th, President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney took the stage at The University of Denver to debate their views and opinions on domestic issues and economic policies. The debate was mediated by author, journalist, and news anchor, Jim Lehrer.
The debate was divided into six segments, each lasting about fifteen minutes. The first question of each segment allowed each candidate a two minute answer. The rest of the segment was open for discussion.
The first question of the first segment (economy) was, “What are the major differences between the two of you about how you would go about creating new jobs?” (All questions were asked by Lehrer).
President Obama was first to answer the question (predetermined by a coin toss). His response consisted of him first thanking the University of Denver for hosting the debate, thanking Lehrer for mediating, and thanking Mitt Romney for participating. He also acknowledged that it was his and Michelle’s 20th wedding anniversary, “There are a lot of points I want to make tonight, but the most important one is that 20 years ago I became the luckiest man on Earth because Michelle Obama agreed to marry me,” he started. He then began to answer the question, “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 and companies that are investing here in the United States.”
The beginning of Governor Romney’s answer mirrored that of Obama’s, thanking the University, Jim Lehrer, and the President. He also addressed the President’s anniversary, “And congratulations to you, Mr. President, on your anniversary. I’m sure this was the most romantic place you could imagine, here – here with me.” Then Romney began to answer the question. He talked about how his plan for the economy consisted of five parts: energy independence, increased trade, making sure American’s have the skills to succeed, a more balanced budget, and championing small business.
Throughout the debate, both candidates went over the allotted time for each segment; neither Obama nor Romney paid much attention to Lehrer who was desperately trying to maintain control of the debate.
A major talking point after the debate on numerous news shows was Romney’s now infamous ‘Big Bird’ comment. When Lehrer asked about how the candidates would tackle the federal debt, part of Mitt Romney’s answer was “I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS, I love Big Bird,” (This means if Romney was elected he would want to cut funding to PBS to decrease the country’s debt or deficit). Within 30 minutes of this statement, #SupportBigBird and #FireBigBird were two of the top trending ‘hashtags’ on Twitter, and even a Twitter account @FiredBigBird was created. I don’t think that this was the intended result of his statement.
There were mixed opinions about who ‘won’ the debate (there is not actually a winner or a loser; it is just the public’s opinion of who was most successful in presenting their ideas to the American people). Some say that Romney knew what he was talking about and seemed at ease while Obama seemed disorganized. Others say Romney was rude and aggressive and Obama kept calm under the stress of the debate.
In my personal opinion, President Obama won the debate. He seemed calm under pressure, he did not ‘flip out’ when Romney would question his decisions as a President. He knew what he was doing.
Even if you will not be voting come November 4th, I encourage all students who can to watch the debates. It is important to know about what’s going on in our country, it affects all of us.