I believe that the 2012 presidential election is one of the most important and pivotal elections our country has ever faced. The national debt is the largest it has ever been and questions about unemployment, the economy and healthcare are lurking in the air. As much as I love this country, I will be the first to say that America is on a downward spiral and that our downfall needs to stop.
On Wednesday, Oct. 3, President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney dusted off their finest suits, put on their best smiles and took center stage in the first of their three final attempts to win the votes of America.
Up until this stage of the campaign trail, Obama has provided prepared, well-spoken, eloquent speeches, which have wowed Americans. Romney, on the other hand, was not as confident and as effective in his speeches.
From the start of this debate, I saw a side of Mitt Romney that I have never seen before. Debate is Romney’s strong suit and that showed through last Wednesday night.
Mitt Romney had his game face on. He was very explicit with how he plans to handle the economy, jobs, healthcare and all other issues our country is facing. He was very aggressive and determined to express all of his goals. Romney also did something reminiscent of Bill Clinton when he simplified the discussion so that a first-time college student voter like me could understand what he was trying to convey.
The Presidential debates are free airtime for the candidates to express their views and proposals for how the country should be ran. Where Obama missed the mark was in taking advantage of this airtime. Instead of implementing his ideas he spent his allotted time pointing out Romney’s flaws. In Obama’s attempts to discredit Romney, he actually set Romney up to further explain his proposals.
We also did not hear anything new from Obama. He does have loyal supporters who have stuck with him the past four years, so I don’t believe that Obama is really trying to gain more supporters. To me, it seems as if he is content right where he is at and has his campaign on cruise control until Election Day.
Not to mention, besides Obama’s lack of content, he also looked unprepared and distracted. The President had many “ums” and “uhs” while speaking and it was very uncharacteristic of what we have seen thus far.
At the end of the day, did Obama’s poor performance during the debate harm his campaign? Probably not, but Romney certainly delivered what he needed in order to jumpstart the final leg of his campaign.
The Presidential race is now closer than it has ever been before, and for Romney to gain support and win the election he is going to need to perform just as well, or better, in the next two debates and in this final month before the election.