President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney came into their second debate with sharpened words and a fire under their stools. Following Obama’s lack luster performance, he had a lot to prove to undecided voters. Romney had to prove that he could repeat his initial performance and maintain his positions. (His campaign has been plagued by his history of flip-flopping on issues.)
It didn’t take long for this town-hall-style debate to get heated. Just over 20 minutes into the debate both candidates were on their seats and arguing directly with each other on the stage. Twitter was going crazy
“Governor Romney, President Obama… if its your first night at Fight Club, you HAVE to fight,” tweeted @GarrettNBCNews.
Much later in the evening, the topic of Libya arose and Romney was caught in a lie by moderator Candy.
New York Times columnist @CharlesMBlow tweeted, “Obama calls Romney out for lying on Libya and Candy confirms. Crowd breaks the rules and applauds… #debate”
It was the first out of turn applause we have heard in the 4.5 hours of debating between presidential and vice presidential candidates.
While the fighting was entertaining, these debates are about the issues. As in the past debate, the candidates discussed economy and job growth. The town hall debate, however, brought forth interesting questions from audience members including conversations about gender equality and immigration policy. In particular, one young woman asked what the candidates planned to do about pay equity for women in the work place, stating that women make 72 cents to every man’s dollar.
Obama had the first opportunity to answer and immediately mentioned his signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act of 2009. According to Wikipedia, “The Act amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stating that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action.” His answer also incorporated lowering tuition costs for women.
Romney opened his answer by talking about making an effort to add women to a cabinet when he was governor of Massachusetts, referring to “binders of women” he compiled. However, as he continued, he seemed to lose his way.
“Did @MittRomney basically just say he’s supporting women in the workforce by making sure they can get home for the womanly duties?” tweeted @DDesjarl.
“Key point: HIRING women is not the same as PAYING WOMEN EQUALLY,” tweeted @annehelen.
“So….Mitt’s answer for women workers to to make their schedules more flexible so they can be home with the kids….did i hear that right?” tweeted @KarlynMB.
And the jokes about Romney’s answered continued when he talked about his “binders full of women.”
“BREAKING: Romney has “binders full of women” in his cabinet,” tweeted @marksussman.
@AntDeRosa commented on the next question about immigration: “Does Romney have a binder for immigrants? #debates”
The questions was about the candidate’s policies on immigration and deportation of immigrants.
Romney seemed to back track on his self-deportation policy, which assumed that job creators would only hire American citizens and that would force immigrants to go home.
“ROMNEY: Military service one way children of illegal immigrants could become permanent residents. #debates,” tweeted @ProducerMatthew, quoting Romney.
“ROMNEY: ‘We should give (green cards) to people who graduate with skills that we need.’ #debates,” tweeted @ProducerMatthew, quoting Romney.
Obama emphasized the difference deporting contributing immigrants and criminal immigrants.
“I love that @BarackObama defines the difference between deporting all immigrants vs. those who are a danger to the community. #debates,” tweeted @ddesjarl.
“OBAMA: ‘For young people who come here…think of this as their country. Understand themselves as Americans.’ #debates,” tweeted @ProducerMatthew, quoting Obama.
Both candidates did agree that we are a land of immigrants. At least they can find some common ground. To close out the debate, candidates were asked to talk about misconceptions the public may have about them.
“If I become president, I will get America working again,” Romney said referring to what he we do as president.
“I believe that every one should have a fair shot,” said Obama referring to his job policy.
Looks like the candidates also agree we have to cut the deficit and increase the number of jobs in the United States.
Maybe we should just take @PRSarahEvans advice, “Okay, let’s just put on boxing gloves. Winner becomes President. #debates #election.”
Photo Sources:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/10/15/162939276/live-blog-o…
http://bindersfullofwomen.tumblr.com/