STAYING awake until the unsociable hours of 3.30 in the morning on a weekday isn’t unheard of for many Exeter students. Doing it for the sole purpose to watch the American Presidential debates live just might be.
Critics question the actual influence of these events in swaying a mainly partisan electorate. Swing voters are often portrayed as highly intellectual political followers patiently weighing up the intricacies of policy before casting a decisive ballot. In reality they generally fit the description of ordinary people too busy working and living their lives to give a damn. Obama hasn’t exactly lived up to wild expectations – he hasn’t saved the world (or America) and those drunken scenes of jubilation four years ago have been replaced by something rather more sobering. Still, when your alternative choice is a multi-millionaire Mormon representing the same party as George Bush it’s not surprising to see everyone isn’t all that optimistic.
Romney fought through a slew of insane, inadequate and ludicrous candidates to emerge as the President’s challenger in the political soap opera that was the Republican Primaries: Herman Cain’s sex scandal; Newt Gingrich’s US moon colony and Michelle Bachman’s ‘pray away the gay clinic’ spring to mind. Anti-abortion proposals and the rejection of both climate change and evolution tend to sit less comfortably on this more liberal side of the pond.
And while not all the candidates agreed on these issues the sheer number who did is something I find both highly amusing and slightly disturbing.
Bruised and battered from such ordeals and facing a skilful and experienced debater in President Obama, most expected Romney to come off badly in the opening battle. Polling suggested a narrow but decisive lead for Obama and the election looked almost sown up.
But Romney came out swinging against a lethargic and passive President – constantly attacking his record on job creation and the soaring levels of public debt. He shrugged off his reputation as cold hearted and robotic with a pitch full of patriotism and compassion for America and its people. He comfortably held his own in a lengthy and detailed joust over the direction of the economy and taxation; it certainly wasn’t as entertaining as the Republican Primaries but it was a whole lot more relevant. Even the most fanatic of Obama fans couldn’t claim a win here and with round one gone Romney had revived his campaign with a crucial and decisive victory over the President.
The race tightened as Obama faced serious pressure to deliver something more substantial. Round two was a bloodier and more evenly contested affair. Both frequently resorted to petty attacks, ambiguous accusations and denials for the purpose of cheap point scoring. While discussing gender equality in the work force Romney said he went to women’s groups to try and resolve the problem of a lack of female applicants and they gave him “binders full of women”.
I’m not sure he wants to associate himself too closely with the kind of people who keep such things (serial killers?), but it provided a rare moment of humour within the 90 minutes. Most polls narrowly handed Obama the victory, although nowhere near as conclusively as Romney had won the first stand-off.
The final debate shifted the agenda from domestic to foreign policy. Encouraged by his more aggressive stance in round two, Obama shot out the traps with continuous attacks levelled at his opponent. His best was his rebuttal to Romney’s criticism of the US having fewer battleships now than in 1916: “well Governor we also have less horses and bayonets”.
In something of a turnaround from the opening night it was Romney taking up the more submissive position. In broad terms they agreed on many issues, leaving little manoeuvre room to distinguish the candidates. Obama’s record on foreign policy, however, is one regarded very differently to his domestic one.
While most in the US see him as something of a serious let down on the economy, they are far more approving of his diplomacy around the globe and handling of terrorism.
Again the majority of polls and news sources handed the victory to President Obama. Romney however has by and large held his own against his opponent and scored an impressive first round victory. The voters definitely trust him more on the economy, although he still has yet to fully convince them on other important issues. The race is on.
Dom Madar
exeposedev 