After losing his first debate with
Romney, Obama had no choice but to
pull double-duty. He sought to
undercut building support for his
opponent among undecided voters,
while allaying concerns about his own
commitment within his own political base.
At the end, his staff and supporters felt relieved both on style
and substance points, while Romney was quick off the stage
and out of the debate hall.
Romney’s aides, though, felt in the long run that fact-checkers
would declare their candidate the winner in the night's war of
words.
The first question of the townhall-style debate at Hofstra
University came from a 20-year-old college student, who
asked Romney how he could assure him he would be able to
support himself after graduation.
It was a tee-ball for a self-proclaimed turnaround artist
running on the strength of his business record, and promising
to accelerate the pace of the nation’s recovery from the Great
Recession.
“Your question is one that’s being asked by college kids all
over this country,” said Romney. “So, what we have to do is
two things. We have to make sure that we make it easier for
kids to afford college. And also make sure that when they get
out of college, there’s a job.”
The Republican concluded: “It’s not going to be like the last
four years. The middle-class has been crushed over the last
four years, and jobs have been too scarce.”
When it was the president’s turn to speak, he assumed the
mantle of the nation’s inspirational leader, proclaiming, “First
of all, your future is bright.”
But barely 110-words later, during which he said he wanted to
promote manufacturing jobs, Obama pivoted to his second
answer: “Now, when Governor Romney said we should let
Detroit go bankrupt, I said we’re going to bet on American
workers and the American auto industry, and it’s come
surging back.”
After Romney was given a chance to rebut, Obama replied,
bluntly: “What Governor Romney said just isn’t true.”
The Democrat added: “And Governor Romney’s says he’s got
a five-point plan? Governor Romney doesn’t have a five-point
plan. He has a one-point plan. And that plan is to make sure
that folks at the top play by a different set of rules. That’s
been his philosophy in the private sector, that’s been his
philosophy as governor, that’s been his philosophy as a
presidential candidate.”
Those exchanges set the tone for the rest of the evening,
which featured remarkable theatrics from two candidates used
to talking about each other from a distance or before
thousands of cheering supporters.
On Tuesday night, they walked around a stage before a group
of 82 local questioners and hundreds more watching from the
arena sidelines.
At points, the candidates spoke over each other and trailed
one another across the floor, as they sought to have their
opponent acknowledge their answer.
One in particular drew gasps, when Romney cut off the
president of the United States by saying, “You’ll get your
chance in a moment; I’m still speaking.”
Several of the questions had an almost comical pro-Obama
tilt.
One focused on equal pay for women (a bill Romney once
demurred about supporting). A second was about how
Romney might differ from former President George W. Bush
(a comparison he sought to avoid throughout the GOP primary
campaign). A third centered on immigration (where Romney
has encouraged “self-deportation”). And a fourth was on job
outsourcing (an accusation leveled against companies Romney
invested in while heading Bain Capital).
Nonetheless, Romney did not yield any quarter to Obama.
“The president’s statement of my policy is completely and
totally wrong,” he said as he defended his contraception views
in an answer typical of several he gave during the night.
Romney also seized the challenger’s prerogative, aiming to
hold the incumbent accountable not for the promises he’s now
making on the trail, but those he issued during his first
campaign.
“The president has tried, but his policies haven’t worked,” the
former Massachusetts governor said after a questioner who
voted for Obama in 2008 said he was having doubts this time
around.
“He’s great as a speaker and describing his plans and his
vision. That’s wonderful, except we have a record to look at,”
added Romney. “And that record shows he just hasn’t been
able to cut the deficit, to put in place reforms for Medicare
and Social Security to preserve them, to get us the rising
incomes we need. Median income is down $4,300 a family
and 23 million Americans out of work. That’s what this
election is about. It’s about who can get the middle-class in
this country a bright and prosperous future, and assure our
kids the kind of hope and optimism they deserve.”
Romney also prospered as Obama avoided direct answers to
two consecutive questions.
One man, who said he drafted a question with the help of his
co-workers, asked simply and succinctly, Who was it that
denied enhanced security for the US consulate in Benghazi,
Libya, and why?
The president began, “Well, let me first of all talk about our
diplomats...”
After paying homage to the late Ambassador Christopher
Stevens and three other Americans killed in a Sept. 11
terrorist attack on the facility, Obama turned away from the
answer to another attack on Romney.
“While we were still dealing with our diplomats being
threatened, Governor Romney put out a press release, trying
to make political points, and that’s not how a commander in
chief operates,” said Obama.
When it was his turn to answer, Romney said: “It was a
terrorist attack, and it took a long time for that to be told to
the American people. Whether there was some misleading, or
instead whether we just didn’t know what happened, you have
to ask yourself why didn’t we know five days later, when the
ambassador to the United Nations went on TV to say that this
was a demonstration. How could we have not known?”
The next questioner also asked Obama about his vow, at the
2008 Democratic National Convention, to keep AK-47 assault
rifles out of the hands of criminals.
“What has your administration done, or planned to do, to limit
the availability of assault weapons?” the woman asked.
The president replied, “We’re a nation that believes in the
Second Amendment, and I believe in the Second Amendment.
We’ve got a long tradition of hunting and sportsmen and
people who want to make sure they can protect themselves.”
After expressing anguish at having to comfort the families of
mass shooting victims, Obama went on to say that he believed
in enforcing the nation’s existing gun laws and possibly
reintroducing an assault weapons ban.
But it took him 253 words to begin the sentence responding to
the woman’s 16-word question.
Obama recovered in what turned out to be a closing statement.
He was given the last chance to answer after a man asked him
and Romney to address the biggest misconception about
themselves.
Romney, having escaped any mention all night of his
assertion that 47 percent of Americans believe they are
“victims” who deserve government handouts, brought up the
remark as he asserted he is not the heartless person he is
sometimes depicted.
“I want 100 percent of the American people to have a bright
and prosperous future,” he said.
Obama disputed the caricature that he believes in big
government and doubts the free enterprise system. Then he
pivoted to an attack on Romney.
“I believe Governor Romney is a good man, loves his family,
cares about his faith,” the president added. “But I also believe
that when he said behind closed doors that 47 percent of the
country considered themselves victims who refuse personal
responsibility, think about who he was talking about: Folks on
Social Security who’ve worked all their lives. Veterans
who’ve sacrificed for this country. Students who are out there
trying to hopefully advance their own dreams, but also this
country’s dreams. Soldiers who are overseas fighting for us
right now. People who are working hard every day, paying
payroll tax, gas taxes, but don’t make enough income.”
Obama concluded: “I want to fight for them. That’s what I’ve
been doing for the last four years. Because if they succeed, I
believe the country succeeds.”
His last answer, like his first, had two parts: the one about
him and the one about his opponent.