Obama vs. Romney's Plans, Romney vs. Obama's Record

The second presidential debate featured a much more aggressive President Obama trying to persuade voters that Mitt Romney’s agenda would be an unacceptable alternative to his own administration, often wading into policy details to make his case. Romney, in response, returned to Obama’s record as president again and again, listing disheartening economic statistics. On domestic issues, both candidates were able to prosecute their case – and also avoid tough questions.

Obama responded to the first question, on college debt, by reeling off his entire second-term agenda, from infrastructure and schools to deficit reduction. From there on out, his focus was on painting Romney’s policy ideas as unworkable, vague, or extreme.

A key moment was when Obama took the entirety of his response time to pin down Romney on the details of his tax plan – something Democrats have been trying to do for months. Obama accused Romney of promising a tax cut for wealthy individuals in the primary before changing his tune for the general election (a misleading charge). Then he walked the audience through the arithmetic of Romney’s plan to conclude that Romney wouldn’t be able to cut tax rates for everyone without increasing the deficit or raising taxes for middle class earners.

Romney’s response encapsulated the evening: instead of joining Obama in a detailed argument about his tax proposals (a conversation that likely wouldn’t favor him), he responded by reeling off a list of dismal economic indicators.

Another example of the same dynamic: in response to a question about the gender wage gap, Obama briefly cited the contraceptive mandate and the Lily Ledbetter Act in his response. But then he made sure to mention that Romney intended to cut funding for Planned Parenthood – a point he returned to multiple times throughout the night. Clearly, his priority was to portray Romney as out of the mainstream. Again, Romney responded by drawing attention to Obama’s achievements, or lack thereof. He said that over the course of Obama’s term, 580,000 women had lost jobs, and repeated the number for effect.

Overall, Obama may have had the better of the debate on points, in part because of a stronger showing on foreign policy questions. On the domestic front, both candidates did much of what they set out to do. Who one is a question of whether Obama’s record or Romney’s proposals is less appealing.

It also must be mentioned that a number of key issues, including health care, housing, prisons, the environment, and many others, went unaddressed. Both candidates, clearly bidding for blue-collar Rust Belt votes, competed to see who could appear more protectionist, especially on the matter of trade with China. Perhaps that’s what voters want to hear, but it’s a letdown for policy-minded folks.