Yes, I admit it! I am a nerd, a geek, a dork! Not only did I watch the debates last night between Obama and Romney, I took notes! 6 PAGES of them! Even I am shaking my head. I wanted to see what each of them said and if either of them laid out a clear plan for fixing our broken economy. I have already made up my mind but I took notes like I was in a college class. I am going to post the notes that I took. I will try to keep my personal opinion out of this and write their words as they said them. I did have the benefit of my DVR so I could pause and write and then start back up again.
I was prepared for Obama to come out and blow this out of the water and for Romney to show how stiff and robotic he has been portrayed to be. I think what happened was completely different! O, at times, looked angry and confused and appeared to struggle. R kept him on the ropes playing defense all while looking confident and presidential and very much in charge. This is not only my opinion but the opinion of Chris Matthews, MSNBC, Andrew Sullivan, and many other pundits that I watched last night. So here is what I heard...
O- The economy is getting better. We need new sources of energy, a change to the tax code, reduction of the deficit, and a tax cut for the middle class. We will do that through improvement to public schools, a lower tax code, close the tax loopholes, and tax breaks for companies that invest in America.
R- The economy is not better. More people on food stamps, getting assistance, middle class paying more taxes. His plan is 5 parts...
1) Energy Independence...it will create jobs, get us off dependence on the middle east...opening up pipeline and drilling our own resources. Coal, natural gas and oil drilling will fix the immediate problem while we invest in alternate resources for the future.
2)Open up trade with other countries including central and south America
3)New skills for people...this is immediate for adults while we try to fix public schools for the future but pouring $$$ into a broken education system won't help us right now.
4)Balance the budget
5)Champion small business...new small biz is at a 30 year low. Small biz pay individual tax rates and it is high. Lower those taxes and make it affordable to run a biz. They employ 1/2 of our citizens.
Let the states have more control than the federal govt. "Trickle down govt" doesn't work.
O-cut taxes on the middle class by $3600 so they could buy a car or a computer for their kids who are going off to college. I lowered taxes for 98% of Americans.
R-Why hasn't it helped employment, gas prices, inflation, food prices, etc? It has gotten worse in the past 3 1/2 years/
Increasing corporate taxes to 35-40%(federal tax rate), that doesn't include property and state and city taxes which push it over 50% will cost 700,000 jobs. My priority is putting people back to work and creation of jobs.
O-We have gone from deficit to surplus under Clinton and then back to deficit under my predecessor and back to surplus?
R-That is simply inaccurate. We do not have a surplus. CBO says that we will continue to have $1 trillion deficit each year over the next 4 years, if you are reelected, Mr. President.
R-The federal debt is a moral issue. It is not moral to spend more than we take in. We can fix this 3 ways 1) raise taxes 2)cut spending 3)grow economy. Mr. Obama wants to raise taxes. I want to cut spending and grow the economy. How would I cut spending? By asking 1 simple question, "Is the program so critical that it is worth borrowing money from china to keep it? If not, then it is cut." I will combine some federal govt agencies and send more control back to the states.
O-I came into office with a mess. The worst since the Great Depression. I took emergency measures. I will ASK those of us who are doing well to pay more. I will cut subsidies to oil. It got $4 billion from the govt. If you have a corporate jet then, you can afford to pay more. Exxon Mobile made so much money...is that fair?
R-Those subsidies to oil went to small drilling companies while you gave $90 billion to green energy sources that ALL failed. That could have hired so many teachers. You could not pick a winner but you picked every loser to invest in. They all went bankrupt, Mr. President.
I want to send Medicaid to the states and let them take care of their own poor. Federal govt shouldn't have so much control over the states.
O- Social security is structurally sound. I cut $716 billion to medicare and I will lower healthcare costs.
R-Seniors depend on this and contrary to what you hear, I will not make cuts. There will be no changes to retirees or those close to retiring. With the "cuts" that O made and the reduction of rates, then 15% of hospitals won't take any new Medicare patients. 50% of doctors won't take anymore. If you are young, then you need a change. More control. Vouchers.
O-R needs to turn over voucher plans. This is not the right way to go even AARP agrees with me.
R-There will be 2 plans under medicare or you can take the voucher and get your own plan that you choose. Competition always make things better.
R-regulation is needed to a degree but sometimes they can be excessive or outdated. There are no businesses that are too big to fail in capitalism and we need more transparency.
O-reforms were made
R-Dodd-Frank gave $$$ to big banks but regional and local banks were allowed to suffer and close.
We need to clear up the regulations and bring them into the 21st century.
R-We need to repeal Obamacare(sorry if that term is offensive, Mr. Prez) and replace it with reduction to the cost of medical care and prescriptions. The average middle class family will pay $2500 more/year than with traditional insurance. But no taxes on the middle class. There is an unelected board to decide on procedures and care. Take it to the states and let them decide what they want.
O-You did the same thing in Mass and it worked. It is almost identical to Obamacare(I am fond of this term). You can keep your kid on your policy until they are 26 and participate in a group plan with 1000s of other Americans.
R-My state made this policy and we had the money to pay for it but we didn't have a board to decide who gets what care. My citizens decided that this worked for them and both dems and repubs decided together that this was best for our state. You rammed your plan through without any support from the right and very little support from your own party. Let the states and private companies compete. That is what we did is Mass and it brought down health care for everyone.
O-The Federal Govt needs to create a framework for free enterprise. We need to give everyone a fair shot and make sure everyone pays their fair share. I mean everyone's doing their fair share and playing by the same rules.
R- I want state and local govts to have more say and not expand the federal govt. If you want a large fed govt, then I am not your candidate but if you want more control over your life, then I am the one for you.
If it seems like I didn't write a whole lot for Obama that is because he didn't say a whole lot. Romney took control and even Jim Lehrer lost control. There was a lot of good back and forths between the 2 candidates and it was pretty entertaining. Now, I can't wait for the VP debates! Should make for must see comedy TV!
