Obama and Romney face off in first debate

(Photo credits: Associated Press, DeAndre McDay)

By LAURA CLARK, News Editor

President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney participated in the first of three presidential debates Wednesday evening.

Both President Obama and Governor Romney argued about their opinions on tax policy, as well as government role and budget deficit.

The debate was divided into six segments, with 15 minutes for each topic. The subject of the first debate was domestic policy. The topics of the segments were selected by moderator Jim Lehrer.

With the debate scheduled from 9:00-10:30 EST, the two debated aggressively for slightly over 90 minutes. Mr. Romney shot down Mr. Obama’s policies, accusing him of not being able to bring America out of the economic downturn and not keeping his promises to the American people during his four years in office.

At one point, Governor Romney even declared to President Obama, “Mr. President, you’re entitled, as the
president, to your own airplane and your own house, but not to your own facts, all right?”

The majority of political pundits and news channels agreed that Governor Romney’s performance in the debates was considerably stronger than President Obama’s, and that he easily won this debate.

The New York Times noted in an article that at times “the president acted more as if he were addressing reporters in the Rose Garden than beating back a challenger intent on taking his job.”

However, to his credit, President Obama held his own during the majority of the debate, and didn’t hesitate to return criticisms to Governor Romney.

“I think Governor Romney is going to have a busy first day,” said Obama, “Because he’s going to repeal ‘Obamacare’, which will not be very popular with Democrats when you’re sitting down with them.”

The next debate will be between Vice-President Joe Biden and Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan on October 11 at 9:00-10:30 EST.

The topic will be domestic policy and the moderator will be ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Martha Raddatz. The second debate between President Obama and Governor Romney will be held on October 16 and moderated by CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.

The debate will be in the form of a town hall meeting, where citizens will be able to ask the candidates questions. The final debate will be on October 22 and moderated by Bob Schieffer. Both presidential debates will also be held from 9:00-10:30 EST.