Though his first debate performance left some supporters scratching their heads, last night President Obama knocked it out of the park at his townhall debate with Mitt Romney. Obama for America released the following statement from Campaign Manager Jim Messina in support of the performance:
“President Obama clearly won tonight’s debate. The American people saw their leader tonight – a strong, steady and decisive president with an affirmative vision to move this country forward and build the economy from the middle out, not the top down. He pointed out that Mitt Romney is offering the American people a ‘sketchy deal’ – his plan to spend $5 trillion on a tax cut for the wealthiest that they don’t need and $2 trillion for a defense buildup the Pentagon says it doesn’t want, without explaining how he’d pay for it. Romney misfired on his attacks and fired blanks on his own proposals. When he was exposed on the emptiness of his own plans, he was rattled, lashed out against moderator and refused to explain his indefensible ideas.”
One of the most crushing moments for Gov. Romney came as a result of attacking the Obama campaign for how it handled the Libya incident. And, as usual, Mitt had it all wrong and was called out for his blatant lie on stage. The NY Times said, “The most devastating moment for Mr. Romney was self-inflicted. Continuing his irresponsible campaign to politicize the death of the American ambassador to Libya, he said it took two weeks for the president to acknowledge that it was the result of an act of terror. As the moderator, Candy Crowley of CNN, quickly pointed out, the president referred to it as an act of terror the next day, in the Rose Garden.”
Another hot topic was each party’s dedication to the economic success of women. Mitt was put on the spot because his campaign would not give an answer on where it stands on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Obama made that bill the first piece of legislation he signed into law, his first week in office to be exact. Mitt’s first response when asked if he would support it was “we’ll have to get back to you.”
Still…..Mitt has refused to say whether he would have signed it and has also declined to take a position on the Paycheck Fairness Act (which would give women additional tools to enforce their right to equal pay for equal work). He did point out he did women a favor by going through “binders of qualified women” to find certain women to hire for his own staff when he was Governor, since he only had male applicants. Sigh.
It was also noted that Congressman & VP candidate Paul Ryan voted against this Fair Pay act…and could never explain why! But throughout the debate, President Obama drove home the point that the he supports the middle class, families and women.
