The First Debate Is In The Books
We knew it was coming. We have been preparing for the moment it happened for around a year. We were warned about it by Republicans during primary season. Last night, we saw it. President Barack Obama retaliated to Mitt Romney’s attacks on “ObamaCare” by implying that he modeled it after “RomneyCare.” It was the long-awaited moment that exposed what appears to be hypocrisy in the Romney campaign.
For the record, here is the exact quote:
“The irony is that we’ve seen this model work really well in Massachusetts, because Governor Romney did a good thing, working with Democrats in the state to set up what is essentially the identical model. And as a consequence, people are covered there. It hasn’t destroyed jobs. And as a consequence, we now have a system in which we have the opportunity to start bringing down cost, as opposed to just…leaving millions of people out in the cold.”
To his credit, Mitt Romney handled it well. One is lead to believe that he had been practicing the response in front of a mirror for months. Here is the first part of his response:
“I like the way we did it in Massachusetts. I like the fact that in my state, we had Republicans and Democrats come together and work together. What you did instead was to push through a plan without a single Republican vote. As a matter of fact, when Massachusetts did something quite extraordinary, elected a Republican senator to stop “ObamaCare,” you pushed it through anyway. So entirely on a partisan basis, instead of bringing America together and having a discussion on this important topic, you pushed through something that you and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid thought was the best answer and drove it through.”
During last night’s debate, Romney seemed a little too vague as to what he would do to “ObamaCare” or what exactly he would replace it with. Obama did a better job of capitalizing on that aspect of the issue rather than the fact the idea was roughly modeled after Romney’s. Obama also used humor effectively on this topic. Yes, use of humor is important in debates. It tends to be what endears the audience to the candidate and it’s usually what people remember about a debate years down the road. The President joked about how busy Romney’s first day would be if he was doing what he promised by sitting down with Democrats to drop “ObamaCare.” The President then lightly noted that he’s actually grown to like the name “ObamaCare.” It all worked.
The first Presidential debate had a Big Bird reference, an anniversary celebration of sorts for the Obamas, a shot at Donald Trump and a moderator who occasionally seemed a little too sheepish for his gig. Romney is seen as the winner, some disagree. No matter who prevailed, it managed to lead the audience into wanting to check out the next contests between these two sides. So please, keep watching and get to the voting booth to let both sides know what you think in November.
