04 October 2012

Obama vs. Romney: Debate 1

I've just watched the first of the US presidential debates, taping it from CNBC.

I'll begin by saying that Jim Lehrer's moderation was appallingly bad and he should clamped down hard on both candidates for going over the limit. As a result an entire section was lost and my recording cut off during Romney's closing statement. Also, I'd have had one section on government and governing, giving another one to something like crime or energy.

From watching this, the pundits' view that Romney won this debate is correct. He spoke more confidently, looked more Presidential (although he already does look like that) and had a folksy charm about him. I felt Obama's policy things came across better and I can't get my head around Romney's deficit reduction plan.

The consensus pre-debate was that Romney needed to deliver a knock-out here and I think he only won on points; with the next two debates being town hall and (IIRC) foreign policy, Obama has an advantage going in to those.

Can anyone tell me what the black thing on Romney's flag pin was as well?

Finally, here's FactCheck's discussion on the misleading use of facts by both candidates.

2 comments:

Wolff said...

In case you are still wondering what the black thing is on Romney's flag pin, it's a Secret Service emblem. The candidates who are running for President and Vice-President are assigned Secret Service Details and the pin was a gift from them to him.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/post/mitt-romneys-flag-pin-whats-that-star-on-the-stripes/2012/10/04/d33c7926-0e68-11e2-bd1a-b868e65d57eb_blog.html


Silent Hunter said...

Thanks. Your answer is deeply appreciated.