The First Debate, Partial Recap

6 October, 2012. 254 words.

So I didn't finish watching the first debate, I had to turn it off after around 45 minutes. It was pretty obvious it was simply a debate of sound bites. Of the two, Romney clearly looked more at ease, so if you vote based on such things, Romney's your guy.

Neither one of them seemed to answer the questions put to them. They both did the whole, "Let me answer your question on tax cuts by telling you my plan to create jobs," smoke and mirrors trick.

For the record, I don't know anything about economics or job creation, and I don't particularly think I would be enriched by learning about it. It strikes me as an unscientific field with its own special reality. So most of the theory about who would or wouldn't create jobs didn't mean anything to me.

One amusing thing I noticed was Obama kept referring to Romney's tax plan as a 5-trillion-dollar-tax-cut-that-would-increase-the-deficit, but Romney kept denying it, saying his plan would only-cut-taxes-that-won't-increase-the-deficit. They went back and forth many times on that wording, neither one actually explaining what they actually meant, which is why I didn't think there was actually a debate going on.

I found it strange that Romney kept mentioning Obama's "trickle-down" economic theory. Wasn't that a Reagan thing? Trickle-down economics? I thought Republicans liked that. (Wikipedia tells me that Reagan was accused of using a trickle-down theory but never actually called it that, so I guess calling someone's economic plan a "trickle-down" plan is a disparaging remark.)