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Key Issues Obama Must Focus On In Presidential Debates

Nandini Ruparel |
September 27, 2012 | 2:27 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Dawn Megli/Neon Tommy
Dawn Megli/Neon Tommy
The first presidential debate on Oct. 3 will essentially define the true lines of this campaign. While both presidential campaigns have struggled with gaffes and mishaps, this will give a chance for each candidate to directly talk to the other and prove their differences, while highlighting why they deserve to win. 

President Obama needs to focus on why his original candidacy was a success and how he will continue to help the American population as their president, while simultaneously illustrating why Mitt Romney's plans will not work.

Issues on which Obama has Received Positive Feedback

  • The Economy:

The economy has not improved to a point where most Americans feel they have come out of the recession. As such, Obama's slow-moving polices have caused him to be a target for Romney, who has focused a lot of effort on the slogan "Are We Better Off?" During the debates, Obama must reiterate and illuminate as to why his solution for the economy is better than Romney's plan for recovery and why it hasn't worked as well as the American people had hoped. However, Obama's rhetoric and criticism of Romney's "top-down" economics has yielded some success, certainly, and during the debate Obama must divide his attention between attacking Romney's economic plan and highlighting why his own will work.

  • Women's rights:

Obama has almost full support from women because of his support of full health coverage for birth control and Planned Parenthood. In fact, women's reproductive rights is one of Obama's strongest stances--according to NPR, a Pew Research Center poll shows women prefer Obama by a 20 percent margin. His policies will likely be questioned during the debate, but as long as he doesn't change his story, Obama is doing well in this issue.

  • LGBT rights:

Although delayed, Obama's support of gay marriage on May 9 earlier this year, his removal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the inclusion of support for gay marriage in the Democratic Party's platform policy has won him the support of much of the LGBT community. However, this could backfire on him--as of yet, the country as a whole has not legalized gay marriageand some ads by Romney target Obama's views on the issue. As a whole, though, the stance has received positive reviews. 

Issues on which Obama has Received Negative Feedback

  • Health care:

The infamous "Obamacare" is sure to come up in debates. Romney is not necessarily in a better position because of his similar policy as the governor of Massachusetts, but Obama's full health care coverage has been controversial from the very beginning--and not much has changed. According to the Huffington Post, 32 percent of people support the law and 36 percent support an overhaul of the policy. This makes the issue a tough spot for Obama--he has to prove that the health care system is worth the money, while debunking misconceptions about the law, like the infamous death panels.

  • The Middle Class:

Although Obama has furiously campaigned to the middle class, a new Politico poll shows that Romney holds a 14-point lead on Obama with middle class families. Obama will have to seriously campaign toward the middle class in order to win this group during the debate. 

  • Foreign policy:

While Obama's foreign policy has never really been in the forefront of this campaign--after all, to the majority of the American people, the most important issue at hand is the economy--with the recent violence over the anti-Muslim video "Innocence of Muslims", Obama's speech at the UN General Assembly has caused concern for many who believe he is being either evasive or not firm enough. Obama has come under fire for his lack of sternness from Romney, after calling these events a "bump in the road." During the debates, Obama's stances on Israel and the United States' support of their policies, Iran's nuclear policies and violence in the Middle East will all come into question. 

 

Read more of Neon Tommy's election coverage here and here.

Reach Staff Reporter Nandini Ruparel here.



 

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