President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney battled in the second debate Tuesday, October 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The debate was moderated by Candy Crowley, the chief political correspondent for CNN. It was a town hall style debate, meaning the audience asked the candidates questions, specifically about domestic policy. Obama assailed Romney with attack after attack, winning the debate hands-down. He was much more engaged in the conversation than in the first debate, and he frequently told Romney that his statements were not true. Romney performed well in the debate, but Obama dominated the discussion and made up for his previous debate performance.
One of the most contentious moments of the debate was when Obama and Romney sparred over the U.S. embassy attack in Libya. Romney stated that, “I think it’s interesting the President just said something which is that on the day after the attack, he went in the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror... I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.” Obama told him to “get the transcript” of the speech. Crowley stepped in at this point to tell Romney that, “He did call it an act of terror.” Romney seemed to have not known about this fact, and Republicans have attacked Crowley for overstepping her boundaries as a moderator.Other topics Obama and Romney covered were immigration, gun control, and the gender salary gap. While talking about the latter subject, Romney stated that he requested information about women from women’s rights groups and received “binders full of women.” This remark has been extremely popular throughout social media websites and news shows, similarly to Romney’s previous comment about Big Bird.
Obama and Romney both stretched the truth or lied on multiple occasions. Obama stated that Romney once said windmills are imaginary, but Romney actually said that “[this is] an imaginary world... [where] windmills and solar panels could power the economy.” Romney stated that during Obama’s presidency, 580,000 women have lost their jobs. Actual estimates range from 93,000 to 283,000, nowhere near Romney’s estimate. Romney also said that he recommended Obama’s plan to bankrupt auto companies. This is partially true, as he did recommend a plan to bankrupt auto companies, but he did not want to give companies aid using the same process that Obama used. Romney blamed Obama for the high gas prices, but presidents have little influence on the price of oil. Generally, Obama was more truthful than Romney, which was another reason that he easily won the debate.
The third and final presidential debate will be held on October 22 at 9 p.m. It will take place at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida and it will cover foreign policy. Bob Schieffer of CBS News will moderate the debate.
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