Asia Poole

The first Presidential debate was slightly disappointing for both parties to say the least. It was filled with digs and jokes at one another, and even the mediator. Speaking of the mediator, he had a very hard time wrangling these two political giants. He was often cut off and silenced by Governor Romney, and occasionally President Obama. For instance, Romney at one point told the mediator, not verbatim, "No, I have to respond", then continuing on to argue his point of view. Obama, after being told his time was up, jokingly stated "I had five seconds until you cut me off", then continued to speak for about one minute. Once you take out all of the fluff in this argument you can walk away with just enough information to choose a front runner in the debate. Romney often got lost in the rebuttal and only skimmed the top of his plan of reform on just about every topic. He frequently used the 'blame game' technique and pointed out several things Obama does wrong. Obama focused less on trying to make his opponent look inadequate by pointing out his (Romney) faults and more on explaining the choices that he (Obama) stands for. His approach was a little more self focused than Romney's. At one point Obama points out that Romney has not yet described in depth what his points are. Romney just got flustered, defensive and immediately went on the attack. In another scuttle between the two, Obama points out how Romney doesn’t want to enforce hiring more teachers to ensure educational strength in the nation. Romney comes back with one of his infamous “I love…” statements. He says “I love grade school. I think teachers are great.” This rebuttal did exactly what Obama was trying to prove. Which is why, after my analysis, Obama seems to have won this first debate, despite what many of the polls say.