Introduction by Hillary Hubley
President Barack Obama shared the stage with Mitt Romney Wednesday night for the first of three presidential debates. The candidates spoke to an audience at the University of Denver about domestic policy - in particular, the effectiveness of government programs. While both candidates garnered applause and got sassy with moderator Jim Lehrer, their performances need to be evaluated. Luckily, the writers of NBN Politics gave the candidates a report card for their work on the stage. After months of campaigning and strategizing, it all comes down to one question: Did Obama and Romney make the grade? Study up, vice presidents. You’re next.
Barack Obama
Budget
Instructor: Erik Baker
Obama’s handling of budgetary issues was mixed. On the one hand, he hammered Romney on his notoriously vague tax plan, saying that “math, common sense, and our history” all suggest Romney’s plan will redistribute wealth upward. But he also passively allowed Romney tell one of his favorite lies, that Obama’s $716 billion in cuts to unneeded payments to Medicare providers is actually a cut in funding to beneficiaries. Polls also suggest many voters are tired of his blame of Bush for the deficit problem.
Healthcare
Instructor: Samuel Niiro
President Obama’s performance on healthcare was lackluster last night; he is capable of much better. He performed well when scripted, but his responses to Romney were disappointing. An anecdote about his grandmother and entitlement programs was both heartfelt and an adroit way of disarming Romney (it is hard to criticize someone’s grandmother), but he failed to properly explain Obamacare’s effect on Medicare funding. Nor did he articulate a clear plan to reduce healthcare costs without relying on Obamacare, which most Americans don’t support. Overall, Obama sounded like a well-meaning but overwhelmed campaign volunteer, not a leader with a vision.
Economy
Instructor: Alistair Murray
Obama seemed to lack direction, especially in contrast to Romney’s well-organized answers. While the president outlined his plan in his opening statement, he failed to reference back to it throughout the night, making it seem like his policy lacked cohesiveness. Obama also failed to adjust to points regarding Romney’s tax plan and, later on, missed an opportunity to drive home his point on Romney’s vagueness. The president did appear knowledgeable about the economic issues at hand, but he came off as passive and flat-footed.
Body language
Instructor: Alyssa Kincaid
Obama is a master of the consistent deadpan stare. He is careful to keep his eyes open at about a 40-degree angle, just closed enough that you’re not sure if he’s deeply contemplative or just about to nod off. In that way, he always keeps the crowd guessing. Essentially this guy is a meme in the making. 18 minutes into the debate there was a bit of a change in Obama’s stilted body language when he bared his teeth at Romney...or maybe it was just an awkward variation on his appealing side smirk. He gets points for throwing a little variety in with his otherwise monotonous expressions. His voice is soft-spoken and silky like that of a well-employed radio announcer, which is a bonus. His body language in this debate, much like he himself, was predictable but always mildly stirring.
Playing nice
Instructor: Ryan Milowicki
President Obama’s attacks on Romney were generally unspecific. Regardless of the topic, his argument was repeated ad nauseam. On a night that will be perhaps best remembered for “the PBS comment”, Obama's interaction with Romney played out like a PBS children's show - repeated looks at the camera, encouragement of the audience to think for themselves and continuous use of basic questions. Eventually, the viewers grow tired of both the repetition and the assault on their cognitive abilities.
Student issues
Instructor: Megan Thielking
Obama clearly thinks of education as an investment. He laid out a plan to add 100,000 more positions for math and science teachers and two million openings in community colleges. He promoted a partnership between community colleges and businesses in order to train employees for a job waiting for them upon completion of their studies. Obama said that, unlike Romney, he prioritizes keeping interest rates on student loans low and providing more assistance for students. Keep those Pell Grants comin', Obama.
Staying on task
Instructor: Ryan Milowicki
President Obama played very safe with his answers, to the point of drifting off of very specific topics. When asked to directly respond to an accusation of implementing “trickle-down government”, he stammered his way through a circular response including an awkward Donald Trump joke. He seemed content with playing for a tie on a very important evening for his campaign, doing just enough to stay on topic. His answers cannot be considered as purposefully deviant from the heart of the discussion, but they certainly were aimed at detracting attention from finer details. Instead of providing concrete information, his broad and quasi-philosophical responses left much to be desired.
Mitt Romney
Budget
Instructor: Benjamin Kamisar
If this debate was your first exposure to Romney, you would have to love his performance, especially in the budget section. The former Massachusetts governor stayed on message and strongly parried many of Obama's attacks. But Romney provided no insight into specifics for his economic plan, doubling down on the notion that his tax plan wouldn't increase the deficit despite many who state otherwise and refusing to discuss specific deductions he would close. Stylistically, a great economic debate from Romney, but substantively, he left much to be desired.
Healthcare
Instructor: Benjamin Kamisar
Health care is a tricky topic for Romney but this was probably a best-case scenario for him. While Obama hit him on the similarities between the national plan and the Massachusetts plan, many of the big questions were avoided. Romney attacked Obama for the increases in health care costs, charged that the law has negatively affected small businesses and called for a more bipartisan approach to address the problem . But lack of specifics again hurt Romney, who did not give a blueprint for his "Repeal and Replace" and cited a CBO report showing Obamacare would cause millions to lose insurance without addressing the fact that his could lead to even more insurance losses.
Economy
Instructor: Brett Owens
I pity the person who’s drinking game cue last night was “Bowles-Simpson.” However, do we know what it is? It turns out it bitch-slaps the 16th amendment, cutting income taxes across the board while increasing investment taxes and some other crap. Kudos to Romney for pointing this out, as it puts a (logical) end to Obama’s “you only want to save the rich white people in America” bullshit. Also worth noting - 47 million more people on food stamps is NOT the recipe for economics success. But is the economy completely Obama’s fault? No. But he must be doing something wrong if 15 million more people went on the dole in his term.
Body language
Instructor: Megan Thielking
The beginning of Romney's performance was familiar - stiff face, forced smile and eyebrows raised sky high at his opponent's remarks. However, once Romney realized he had free reign in the wake of Jim Lehrer's surrender, he loosened up. He whipped out the honed presentation skills of a longtime consultant. When he was being attacked by Obama, he looked politely at his opponent with his hands folded. When he was attacking Obama, Mitt "Sleeping Tiger" Romney turned fierce, directing his anger and accusations toward Obama with a reckless disregard for Lehrer's muted attempts to cut him off. He came with his guns out and listened semi-respectfully, and because of this, Mitt wins the award for "Most Improved" in this category.
Playing nice
Instructor: Alyssa Kincaid
Romney started out the niceties with a bang by saying, “I’m sure this is the most romantic place you could imagine - here with me,” after Obama mentioned his wedding anniversary. That was a cute attempt at sarcastic humor that seemed to resonate with the audience. Romney was big on ruminating on what he likes, diffusing some of the debate’s tension with unforgettable one liners such as “By the way, I like coal,” and “I love great schools.” Mitt came across as somewhat ingenuinely genial because of his attitude toward the commentator.
Student issues
Instructor: Erik Baker
Students’ issues were largely overshadowed by taxes, healthcare, and other topics, but when they came up Obama generally had the upper hand. Romney either didn’t have much of a response or seemed out of touch on two key policy issues - the mandate that children can remain on their parents’ healthcare plan until age 26 and the expansion of funding for student loans. His suggestion that students just borrow money from their parents to pay for college in particular seemed to show a pointed disconnect with the lives of students.
Staying on task
Instructor: Samuel Niiro
Governor Romney did an admirable job of staying on topic tonight, provided the topic was Obama. For the first thirty minutes or so, he spoke with little regard for the topic or his opponent’s statements, but that was true of both sides. He clearly and quickly articulated what he believed was wrong with the economic status quo (short version, unemployment is bad), but also failed to discuss his own plans in detail, especially on entitlements and job creation. Overall, Romney stayed on point this debate, but a little more effort to explain his own plans would have been appreciated.