In a night characterized by a rambling debate format, Mitt Romney came on strong and stated his message more forcefully than in recent weeks, while President Barack Obama seemed disinclined to engage.
The candidates dwelled heavily on the words “middle class” at the University of Denver, and avoided major gaffes.
Obama, who won a coin toss and started first, said he’d led the country through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and had created five million jobs over 30 months. But he spun quickly to criticizing Romney, saying the GOP nominee’s budget plan — which does not specify which tax credits and exemptions he would cut — would cut taxes by $5 trillion, slashing taxes for the wealthy but ultimately raising them on the middle class.
This assumption is based on analyses of Romney’s plan that assert there is no way to cut federal spending as much as he wants without cutting spending on Medicaid and Medicare but also eliminating tax breaks enjoyed by the middle class like mortgage interest deductions and child care tax credits.
“Are we going to double-down on the top-down economic policies that helped to get us into this mess?” Obama asked. “Or do we embrace a new economic patriotism that says America does best when the middle class does best?”
Romney fired back that Obama was continuously mispresenting his plan. Romney said he would not enact any tax cut that increased the deficit, especially a cut on high-income earners.
“I know that you and your running mate keep saying that, and I know it’s a popular thing to say with a lot of people, but it’s just not the case,” Romney said. “Look, I’ve got five boys. I’m used to people saying something that’s not always true, but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping I’ll believe it.
“But that — that is not the case. All right? I will not reduce the taxes paid by high-income Americans.”
It was the first debate between Obama, the Democratic incumbent president, and Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and Republican nominee for president. The debate at DU’s Ritchie Center centered mostly on the economy, job creation and America’s deficit.
The debate was hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates and moderated by PBS’ Jim Lehrer, who started by asking the pair how they would create jobs.
Mail ballots in Colorado go out Oct. 15, and an estimated 80 percent of voters will have cast their ballots by the November election.
The debate also touched on the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 federal health care reform law that Romney referred to as “Obamacare,” apologizing to the president for using that term, which some critics use derisively.
Obama shrugged it off, saying, “I like it.”
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626, thoover@denverpost.com or twitter.com/timhoover
