After the debate tonight, I received this email - "If you happened to catch the debate tonight, I'm curious to what you thought and who you thought came across stronger and more confident in the debate.
Don't be partisan on the answer."
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And I Replied:
As you know, I am a registered Democrat and fully intend to vote for Barack Obama. However, I think that Mitt Romney did a great job tonight, and had I not known some of the facts behind the rhetoric, would probably even be inclined to consider voting for him after tonight's debate.
However, my main concern is the bigger picture. Mitt is a member of a party that has spawned far-right religious zealots, the bigoted Tea Party; and it is this threat of those people occupying seats in the House and Senate that concerns me the most. The president is only one man, and despite the intentions of either one of them, the system of checks and balances that are in place, will (or at least SHOULD) prevent any president from becoming dictator.
Also, Romney supports the Super PACs which allow billions of dollars in campaign donations from anyone without disclosing the source, which means anti-semitic, racist neo-cons like the Koch brothers can practically buy the election for whichever candidate they choose. On the other hand, I like what Romney says about keeping the nation's defense strong, and I do believe Mitt is a supporter of Israel. I'm sure a lot of this will be discussed when they debate foreign policy, which I think will expose Mitt's weaker side.
What I like about Obama - although he wasn't as aggressive or as assertive as I would have liked to have seen him (who knows, maybe he smoked a doobie with Michelle to celebrate their anniversary before the debate), he's still the guy who made major, positive changes to health care, helped rescue our auto industry and was Comander-In Chief of the operation that found and killed Osama Bin Laden. Though I wouldn't declare Obama the clear winner of this round, I think he held his own well enough.
So, talking purely about the debate - I would have to give it to Romney. But there are still two more debates, so l say let's see how they play out.
Was this honest and non-partisan enough for you? I like to think I'm pretty fair-minded about the election.
Hal
