Okay, so last night the first of three presidential debates took place, and the overwhelming consensus of opinion is that Mitt Romney took Barack Obama to the cleaners.
Romney and Obama strode onto the stage, shook hands, then took their places behind their respective podiums. Romney looked into the camera and smiled. He looked confident, energetic, and ready for battle. Obama looked nervous, tight-lipped, and uncomfortable, as though he really didn’t want to be there. Those first impressions proved right over the next 90 minutes, especially during the first segment about taxes.
The president repeatedly said that Romney was calling for a $5 trillion tax break for the wealthy, and Romney repeatedly corrected Obama on his claim. Obama obviously wasn’t listening, and that’s been a major problem during his whole presidency. The man just doesn’t listen. In fact, the fact checkers went to work immediately, and I found it interesting to watch CNN immediately after the debate. CNN, hardly a bastion of conservative politics, brought out a fact checker who explained why Obama’s $5 trillion tax break claim was patently false.
Despite critical claims that Romney wasn’t specific on his plan to create jobs, I heard him specifically outline a five-point plan. In the area of the deficit, I heard him talk about cutting programs for which we had to borrow money from China to keep going. I heard him talk about cutting the number of federal employees by attrition.
Obama’s claim that during his administration five million new jobs were created. Fact checkers also found a problem with this. Yes, 4.4 million people went to work, but roughly 4.3 million lost their jobs for a net gain of an abysmal 125,000 jobs over four years. The whole debate followed the same pattern.
The philosophies of government of these two men couldn’t be further apart. Obama sees the federal government as an integral part of every aspect of everyone’s life. Romney wants to cut out the federal government and let states govern as they deem best for their state. He sees no reason for the feds to determine which light bulbs we use or what kinds of toilets we flush.
Romney won this debate in a big way. He was confident, well-prepared, and dare I say it—Presidential. Obama tried to spin his facts, Romney refuted them. Obama offered talking points. Romney offered a plan. But now Romney can’t rest on his laurels. He must continue to prepare and arm himself for the next battle. He must outline more specifics that he can offer up in two-minute segments. He must give the American people the clarity to see that truly, the emperor has no clothes.
