Romney takes debate to Obama over economy,
health care
By Tom
Cohen, CNN
October 4, 2012 -- Updated 0417 GMT (1217 HKT)
(CNN) -- A
forceful Mitt Romney went toe-to-toe with President Barack Obama on the
dominant issues for voters, challenging the Democrat's policies on the economy,
taxes and health care in the first of three debates ahead of the November
election.
In exchanges full of policy
proposals, facts and figures, the Republican challenger was more aggressive in
the 90-minute encounter in criticizing Obama's record and depicting the
president's vision as one of big government.
The president firmly
defended his achievements and challenged his rival's prescriptions as
unworkable.
Neither candidate scored
dramatic blows that will make future highlight reels, and neither veered from
campaign themes and policies to date.
But Romney came off as the
more energized candidate overall by repeatedly attacking Obama on red-meat
issues for Republicans such as health care reform and higher taxes, while the
president began with lengthy explanations and only later focused more on what
his opponent was saying.
Moderator Jim Lehrer of
PBS, at times, tried without success to keep the candidates within time limits
for responses, especially Obama, who ended up speaking four minutes longer than
Romney.
"A week ago, people
were saying this was over. We've got a horse race," said CNN Senior
Political Analyst David Gergen, who called the debate Romney's best so far
after the 22 the former Massachusetts governor took part in during the GOP
primary campaign.
Alex Castellanos, a
Republican strategist and CNN contributor, expressed surprise at Romney's
strong performance, saying he "rose to the moment" and seemed to
benefit from the multiple primary debates.
"It looked like Romney
wanted to be there and President Obama didn't want to be there," noted
Democratic strategist and CNN contributor James Carville. "The president
didn't bring his 'A' game."
A CNN/ORC International
poll of 430 people who watched the debate showed 67% thought Romney won,
compared to 25% for Obama.
Romney's strongest moments
came in repeating his frequent criticism of Obama's record, saying the nation's
high unemployment and sluggish economic recovery showed the president's
policies haven't worked.
"There's no question
in my mind if the president is re-elected, you'll continue to see a
middle-class squeeze," Romney said, adding that another term for Obama
also will mean the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, "will be
fully installed."
At another point, he noted
how $90 billion spent on programs and policies to develop alternative energy
sources could have been devoted to hiring teachers or other needs that would
bring down unemployment.
Obama argued that his
policies were working to bring America back from the financial and economic
crisis he inherited, and that Romney refused to divulge specifics about his
proposed tax plans and replacements for the health care reform act and Wall
Street reform act that the Republican has pledged to repeal.
"At some point, the
American people have to ask themselves if the reason that Governor Romney is
keeping all these plans secret is because they're too good," Obama said.
On taxes, Obama said
Romney's plan of tax cuts for the rich had failed before and would fail again
now.
Describing the Romney tax
plan as a $5 trillion cut, Obama echoed a line from former President Bill
Clinton by saying the math doesn't add up without increasing tax revenue, which
Romney rejects
"I think math, common
sense and our history shows us that's not a recipe for job growth," Obama
said.
Romney, however, said Obama
still pushed the same policies as when he took office four years earlier, and
those steps had failed to bring down high unemployment and get the economy
surging again.
He rejected Obama's
characterization of his tax plan, saying it won't add to the deficit, and
criticized the president's call for allowing tax rates on income over $250,000
for families and $200,000 for individuals to return to the higher rates of the
1990s.
"The National
Federation for Independent Businesses has said that will cost 700,000 jobs. I
don't want to cost jobs," Romney said.
Obama responded that the
revenue issue is "a major difference" he has with Romney, noting the
former Massachusetts governor rejected the idea of cutting $10 in spending for
every $1 in new revenue during the Republican primary campaign.
In his strongest line of
the night, Obama said Romney lacked the important leadership quality of being
able to say "no" when necessary.
"I've got to tell you,
Governor Romney, when it comes to his own party during the course of this
campaign, has not displayed that willingness to say no to some of the more
extreme parts of his party," Obama said in reference to his challenger's
swing to the right during the primaries to appeal to the GOP's conservative
base.
Romney repeatedly went
after Obama on the health care reform bill, at one point asking why the
president focused so strongly on a measure that passed with no Republican
support instead of devoting more attention to the high unemployment and
creaking economy.
With polls narrowing less
than five weeks before Election Day, Obama and Romney launched a new phase in a
bitter race dominated so far by negative advertising as both camps try to frame
the election to their advantage.
Whether it matters is
itself a topic of debate. According to an analysis by Gallup, televised debates
have affected the outcome of only two elections in the past half century --
Nixon-Kennedy in 1960 and Bush-Gore in 2000.
Both candidates had their
wives in the audience at the University of Denver in Colorado for the debate
taking place on the 20th wedding anniversary of the president and first lady
Michelle Obama.
Obama opened the debate by
promising his wife they wouldn't be celebrating their anniversary next year in
front of 40 million people, and Romney joked that Obama found the most romantic
place possible for the anniversary.
Analysts say Obama needed a
presidential performance rather than fireworks or haymakers in order to
maintain and build on a narrow edge in polls that indicate a very close
election on November 6.
Romney, who has been unable
to catch the president in most of the polls to date, sought to generate
enthusiasm for a change in the White House as the nation wrestles with
seemingly chronic economic problems such as mounting federal deficits and debt.
Lehrer, moderating his 12th
presidential debate, planned to break up the debate into 15-minute segments
focusing on different aspects of the economy and other domestic issues.
However, the exchanges by the candidates scrambled the format, with the opening
discussion on taxes lasting more than 20 minutes.
The two candidates shook
hands and shared a laugh after being introduced by Lehrer as the audience
applauded before being asked to remain silent for the remainder of the debate.
At one point, a loud bang off-stage seemed to surprise Romney in mid-sentence,
and Obama looked behind him to try to see what happened.
The other presidential
debates will occur on October 16 in New York and October 22 in Florida. Vice
President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Romney's running mate,
will debate on October 11 in Kentucky.
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