By Danny Zeng
Tonight, after not doing so well in the polls in recent weeks, Governor Romney resurged as the opposition leader who is in command of the issues challenging a very liberal president who has a drastically different vision for America. Everyone went into the debate knowing that the most important issue to America: job creation. Throughout the debate, Romney remained constant on-message in that HE is the only candidate who has a real plan to create jobs for this country.
Obama’s standard message on his failure to deal with the debt: I inherited…[The President: “When I walked into the Oval Office, I had more than a trillion-dollar deficit greeting me”] The then-candidate Obama promised that he’d cut the deficit by half, but deficit has been above a trillion throughout Obama’s tenure. The President lost control of the issues toward the beginning when he unsuccessfully tried to tag Romney to “trickled down economy.” If anything, the conventional wisdom that “it’s the economy, stupid” as a campaign mantra has salvaged tonight, as the President was hammered on his failed economic policies.
The President was so desperate at one point that he villain-ized ExxonMobil, asking rhetorically, “does anybody think that ExxonMobil needs some extra money, when they’re making money every time you go to the pump?” Blaming bad economy on oil companies is a classic play from the liberals’ political playbook to deflect the real issue. The issue is not about how much Exxon makes, or any business for that matter; if a business is successful, being operational efficient and providing value to its consumers, it makes profits. Profits drive businesses like Exxon to invest, take on risks, and find where the next generation of energy will be. The issue is about how to get the economy going. The President, throughout his tenure, instead of pursuing a comprehensive, forward-thinking, 21st century energy policy, decided to subsidize failed green energy firms like Solyndra that went belly up. Texas oil industry giant T. Boone Pickens puts it this way on his twitter when the president attacked the oil industry:
The fact that Romney looked straight into Obama’s eyes and did not flinch throughout the debate, even when Obama questioned him over Romneycare, conveyed confidence and grasp over the issues; Mitt appeared and sounded more presidential. Even when the President tried so hard in the debate to paint Governor Romney as anti-middle-class, Romney was able to defend his positions. He did not allow the President to define who he is or what he stands for; bur rather, he appeared to be the prepared candidate, armed with facts, conviction, and a vision to get this country working again. CNN poll of debate watchers shows that 67% think that the Governor had won the debate tonight, beating prior expectations. Even the infamous Bill Maher had something to tweet about:
Needless to say, great debate for Governor Romney. He revitalized the national politics tonight, and young Republicans everywhere should have a lot of hope in our candidate to take our country back.
The Dissent 