The second debate between the Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney was held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York (O’Brien Para 1). Given that the audience was comprised of undecided voters, two tried much to win the voters to their side, though at times the debate was so heated that they actually addressed each other. In this debate, each of the candidates concentrated on bringing the bad side of the other while portraying themselves as clean.
President Obama focused on making Mr. Romney account for the conservative vows that he had taken when he was nominated as the Republican flag bearer. He sought to bring out that such commitments could be detrimental to the nation. He was also very keen on bringing Romney to the task on his comment that he would implement tax cuts, indicating that this would have serious implications. Obama went on to clarify that Romney did not talk of a cut in tax rates but a cut in the taxes. This was quiet tasking for the Republican. As the last straw, Obama employed some of the tactics that his campaign has been using against Romney. He argued that Romney dismissed the votes of the 47% Americans whom he said were dependent on the country. He indicated that his aim was to improve the lives of these people as that would count as the success of America.
Romney on the other side raised some issues with Obama administration. He accused the president of not keeping his promises especially concerning the issues of immigration and employment (O’Brien Para 3). He argued that his administration would be more concerned about this. He made a mistake in saying that on foreign matters, Obama failed to label the Libyan crisis as a terrorist activity. The moderator noted that this was wrong, which prompted an applause from the audience. Generally, the candidates battled it out on several fronts during the debate but the president seemed to have an upper hand as opposed to the first debate when he was outperformed by his opponent.
Work Cited
O’Brien, Michael. “Sharp Exchanges between Obama, Romney at Second Debate.” CBSNews, Oct. 16, 2002. Web, 24th Oct. 2012, http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/16/14490356-sharp-exchanges-between-obama-romney-at-second-debate?lite
