SpicyTricks

Written by Brianna Hales

The first presidential debate of the 2012 election started out with a bang October 3. President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney went head to head in a heated debate that discussed taxes, the deficit, healthcare, and jobs. While Romney did better than expected, the clear winner was Obama. With only a month to go until elections, these debates are critical in determining who America will choose as its new leader.

Obama, while not always appealing to everyone with his plans as President, at least gave a plan. He especially focused on his main concern: Obamacare. In this debate, he discussed that Obamacare was a good act because it would provide millions with healthcare were not able to before and he stated exactly what his plan to continue his act would entail. All people would have to get this insurance under his plan.

Romney, on the other hand, gave very specious arguments that could never work. He didn't give details about his proposed plans and often changed his story. Originally, Romney said he would repeal all of Obamacare, but now says he will keep some parts. This includes his plan to allow kids to stay on their parents health insurance until they are 26 and covering people with pre-existing conditions, but getting rid of the part saying all Americans were required to get this health insurance. Romney's plan wouldn't work because the government can’t cover everyone without forcing all citizens to get the insurance because not enough money would be coming into the revenue stream.

Taxes are a huge concern for Americans. Obama wants to raise taxes on the upper class and lower them on the middle and lower classes. Romney doesn't want to raise taxes on anybody. Also, Romney insists that the deficit has to be lowered. Obama pointed out that you cannot refuse to raise taxes and try to cut the deficit all at the same time. This shows that Romney just simply does not think out the consequences of the plans he wants to put in place. Such carelessness could really hurt the American economy even more.

One of the final important discussions of the night was the current state of unemployment, which is at 8 percent throughout the country. Obama stated that he had inherited the problem of unemployment which was at 7.8 percent when he took over after the Bush administration. Romney tried to blame Obama for the job situation. Obama rebutted that unemployment is not something you can change within a short amount of time.

Obama really was in tip top shape with statistics, plans, and ideas for his second term of Presidency. While he was very flamboyant and charismatic, Romney failed to create a clear plan to what he would do as President while making false accusations and continuing  flip-flopping on many planks of his platform.