President Obama vowed to change his approach for his second debate against Mitt Romney, and followed through with his promise.
During part two of their meeting, this time in Hempstead, N.Y., the commander in chief and the former governor verbally battled, often speaking over one another to get their points across. Even though the president was the clear victor in the battle, Romney held his own for at least half of the verbal combat.
For his part, the president reinforced previous adages behind job creation, and taking care of the middle class. Romney worked to get a similar point across, while both parties took the other to task on audience-posed questions on topics like the economy, foreign policy, and immigration.Keeping in line with some of the criticism that he has received in the past for failing to outline a specific tax plan, Romney reiterated that his background in business will help in running the country. “I know what it takes to make an economy work, ” he said making mention to the tens of millions of American still out of work.
On the subject of taxes, the 65-year-old, tried to show that he does not favor the wealthy —as widely reported — and wants “the top 5%” of Americans to pay 60% in income taxes, despite the fact that he only paid 13% in taxes on income above $10 million.
As for fixing the economy, Romney teased a 5-point plan, which the POTUS all but laughed off as being non-existent. “Governor Romney says he’s got a five-point plan. Governor Romney doesn’t have a five-point plan. He has a one-point plan. And that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules,” he said.
Both candidates also worked to appeal to female voters, with Romney claiming to have been misrepresented on issues like contraception.
Unlike the first debate, the president was noticeably more aggressive in many cases, including when asked about Libya. Romney argued that the president wrote-off the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as the result of a religious uprising, and took 14-days to call the incident a terrorist attack, at which point the moderator stepped in to discredit said claims.
While Secretary of State Hilary Clinton announced that her team was responsible for any security mishaps that led to the deaths of four Americans in the aftermath of the attacks, during the debate, the president shifted the blame on himself. “I’m the president and I’m always responsible,” he said.
The third and final debate will take place Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla.
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