President Barack Obama and
Republican Mitt Romney teed up the last three weeks of the presidential
election as a question of which man voters can trust to improve the economy.
If the undecided
voters who questioned the two men in Tuesday's fast-paced debate are an
indication, then the Nov. 6 contest may turn on whether like-minded Americans
decide to stick with a disappointing-but-progressing president, or gamble on a
challenger who swears he knows how to create jobs, but provides few details to
shore up the claim.
Obama, vastly
more animated than in his first debate, accused Romney of misleading voters
about his record on China, the U.S. auto industry and U.S. energy production.
"What
Governor Romney said just isn't true," Obama said in one of several exchanges
in which he practically called his opponent a liar. He was referring to
Romney's description of the 2009 bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, when
Romney opposed the heavy infusion of federal funds to help the companies
survive bankruptcy.
Obama used
similar language to describe Romney's assessment of U.S. oil production, and
the president's immigration policies.
Romney took his
own whacks at the president's trustworthiness. But Romney was at his best when
he kept things simple and forward-looking. He said Obama's four-year record is
the best indicator of what a second term would bring.
"If you were
to elect President Obama, you know what you're going to get," Romney said.
"You're going to get a repeat of the last four years. We just can't afford
four more years like the last four years."
"We don't
have to settle for what we're going through," Romney said, urging
Americans to fire a president they generally like, according to polls. "We
don't have to settle for unemployment at a chronically high level. We don't
have to settle for 47 million people on food stamps."
Given that
unemployment just recently fell below 8 percent for the first time since he
took office, Obama cannot make rosy promises without looking foolish or
insincere. He acknowledged that Americans are struggling. But he urged them to
stick with policies showing slow but steady improvement.
"We've
created 5 million jobs, and gone from 800 jobs a month being lost, and we are
making progress," the president said. "We saved an auto industry that
was on the brink of collapse."
Obama was most
animated when claiming that Romney is trying to sell voters a bill of goods. He
said Romney outlines feel-good plans for lower tax rates and higher military
spending that would cost $8 trillion over 10 years. The only possible ways to
absorb such costs, Obama said, would involve sharply increasing the deficit or
finding new ways to tax the middle class — or both.
Slyly
complimenting his opponent as "a very successful investor," Obama
said that if someone approached Romney "with a plan that said, 'Here, I
want to spend 7 or 8 trillion dollars, and then we're going to pay for it, but
we can't tell you until maybe after the election how we're going to do it,' you
wouldn't take such a sketchy deal. And neither should you, the American people,
because the math doesn't add up."
Romney
indignantly said he can fulfill his promises. He would limit tax deductions for
the wealthy, among other things, he said.
But independent
analysts say Romney's plan would have to embrace more painful tax hikes or
painful spending cuts to make the numbers work. Rather than offer such details,
Romney repeatedly asked Americans to trust his skills and intentions.
"As
president, I'll get America working again," he said. "I will get us
on track to a balanced budget. The president hasn't."
Romney hit the
"trust me" theme time and again.
"I was
someone who ran businesses for 25 years, and balanced the budget," he
said. "I ran the Olympics and balanced the budget."
Don't believe it,
Obama kept saying. Look at details of Romney's past, not his vague summaries,
he said.
"When he
talks about getting tough on China, keep in mind that Governor Romney invested
in companies that were pioneers of outsourcing to China," the president
said. He was alluding to Romney's time as head of Bain Capital, a private
equity firm.
Tuesday's debate
brought huge relief to Democrats despondent over Obama's flat performance in
the Oct. 3 forum.
"Whatever
bounce Romney got from the first debate was stopped in its tracks," said
Democratic strategist Doug Hattaway. "President Obama relentlessly drove
the narrative that Romney can't be trusted, and put him on the defense much of
the time."
Republicans said
Romney's performance was far from shabby, but not quite as sharp as the president's.
"Obama was
SO much better that he has to get the win," GOP consultant Rich Galen said
in an email. "He was well-prepped to have at least one fact about Romney
(true or not) that he could use in every question. I thought Romney looked as
strong as he did in the first one, but because Obama was so much better, it may
not look that way."
The two men have
one more debate, on foreign policy, next Monday.
Between now and
Nov. 6, the economy is unlikely to make a dramatic move one way or another.
Voters have lots of facts, figures, disappointments and hopes lying before
them. In the end, they'll have to decide whom they trust.
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