By Alexandria Jezina
Columnist
As Hofstra made national news hosting the second presidential debate on Oct. 16, filling the campus with political fervor and excitement, the question of who won the debate remains.
According to NBC’s Political Director and Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney delivered big time at the second presidential debate on Tuesday. He further stated, “The two candidates debated as if both their political careers depended on it because, well it did.”
The two candidates brought their A-game to the town hall debate as both candidates aggressively competed to get their points across in response to questions from the audience. As moderator, Candy Crowley, was able to keep the candidates in check, setting a different tone than the Denver debate. While Romney was deemed the winner of the first presidential debate on Oct. 3 for his adamant stances, President Obama was able to defend his position and not let the former Governor overpower him in the second debate.
The Hofstra debate featured eleven questions asked by supposedly undecided voters, which were able to highlight each candidate’s separate ideas on social and economic issues such as women’s rights, gun control, health care, taxation and immigration. The debate focused on domestic issues that were passed over in the first debate. Women’s issues such as equal pay in the workplace with the Lilly Ledbetter Act and access to contraceptives were subjects that President Obama was able to capitalize on. Governor Romney answered these questions by describing his experience in making a more gender-equal taskforce while governor of Massachusetts. He described creating jobs where women could leave early enough to go home and cook dinner for their families, a fairly sexist comment. Romney’s “binder full of women” response to women’s rights issues made headlines through social media websites such as Tumblr and Twitter.
The debate, described as a political boxing match, also brought some punches to the current administration with the Libyan attack crisis. While Romney hammered Obama on not immediately stating that the attack on the U.S. consulate was an act of terror, Obama defied him to check the transcript of his speech made in the White House Rose Garden. Factually, Obama did describe it as an “act of terror,” but never fully answered why it was initially stated to be a violent reaction to an anti-Islamic video when that was not the case. However, the president did take responsibility for the situation in Benghazi from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying, “I’m the president and I’m always responsible, and that’s why nobody’s more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I [am].”
As both candidates maintained their charisma with fiery responses, the winner of the debate was a toss-up. Both candidates appeared to be strong and worthy of the presidential position, while trying to sympathetically relate to those asking the questions in the town-hall debate. While Democrats rooted for President Obama for his oratory, Republicans stood strong with candidate Romney. Both candidates hope that their stances will identify with undecided voters who will make or break their presidential hopes.