First cat fight.

I thought the debate was a bit, boring. I felt both candidates spoke about the same things we've already heard without expanding more. Personally I felt that Obama stumbled over his words and thoughts a lot more than Romney. If anything Romney seemed more confident when speaking than Obama. Obama did make more eye contact with the camera than Romney did but Obama didn’t seem as confident as he usually does so it took away his appeal of being under control. he didn’t come off as the commander and chief that had the United States under control. 

When talking about the role of government, Obama stated that “the first role is to keep the american people people safe, it’s the most basic function. As Commander and Chief that is something i’ve worked on and thought about every single day that i’ve been in the oval office.”

Here Obama is asserting his power as president while assuring the american people that he has thought of their safety. I thought it was a great way to put in the back of everyones mind that he is the Commander and Chief, that he is always in the Oval office thinking about the american people. He shows his friendly nature with a subtle prowess, it was one of my favorite lines to think about. 

He chooses his words precisely, he doesn’t say president, we always here that, he says “Commander and Chief” the phrase comes across with more authority. Instead of simply saying the The White House he says “Oval Office” the official room of the president, it paints a picture of decision making a place where only the President is. I think these words were chosen specifically to paint a picture of authority, of importance. 

When speaking on education Obama said “ we gotta reform schools that aren’t working, we used something called race to the top, it wasn’t a top down approach governor..”

Here Obama is talking about education and how schools that aren’t working need to be fixed, he uses it as a quick opportunity to throw a jab at Romney. To suggest that Romney is opposed to reforming schools, he didn’t say it directly that way but is implying he did, anything that can show Romney going against school reform will associate him with not wanting to help schools thus making Obama seem liek the only one fighting for better schools. 

Obama also spoke about the teachers, “in fact we’ve seen layoffs of hundreds of thousands of teachers over the last several years and governor Romney doesn’t believe we need more teachers, I do because I think that is the kind of investment that the federal government can help, they cant do it all but it can make a difference and as a consequence we will have a better trained workforce and that will create jobs because companies want to locate where theres a skilled workforce.”

Here is where I felt Obama hit three key issues being brought up in the debate and used a great logic for how one directly affects the others while again making Romney seem very weak since he portrays him as being against education thus meaning he is against the other things hes referring to. Obama makes the claim that education needs more teachers since many have been laid off and said Romney doesnt believe we do. He follows it a quick “I do” then states that the government can get involved with helping to find more teachers, again answering where the governments role falls on, which creates a better workforce the will create more jobs because companies will go to the areas with the better workforce, Obama uses education as the platform that will lead to better employees and more jobs. By saying this he makes Romney seem like he doesnt believe in eduction so he also doesnt believe in a better workforce or better jobs. 

But Romney had a pretty god response back “I love great schools, Massachusetts, our schools are ranked number one of all 50 states, a key to great schools is great teachers, so I reject the idea that I don’t believe in great teachers or more teachers.”

Here I felt Romney was able to show a strong character of power. He backed up his belief in great schools and teachers by stating that Massachusetts is number one out of all 50 states. Quickly dispelling Obamas previous statement of not caring.

When speaking about the students ability to pay for college Obama uses this other opportunity to throw a jab at Romney and make himself seem like the one who truly understands the students and families that are struggling with eduction costs. 

“Romney believes that students should borrow money from their parents to go to college indicates the degree to which there may not be as much of a focus on the fact that folks like me, or Michelle, or kids who, probably attend the University of Denver don’t have that option. For us to be able to make sure that they’ve got that opportunity to walk through that door is vitally important not just for those kids but to how were going to grow the economy long-term”

Here Obama once again makes himself the President who actually understands the struggles of being a college student, emulating that friendliness and relation to those struggling. He makes sure to directly appeal to those in Denver. A great way to further bring in the attention of those listening to what he is saying. Obama also depicts Romney as the candidate who doesn’t understand the struggle and makes him even seem like more of an unequipped president because he asks students to go to their parents for college money.