The First Presidential Debate: Opinion

           In every debate there is usually always a clear winner, however, in the case of last nights Presidential debate it might not be so black and white. Romney seems to have been the more powerful competitor in that he brought about new ideas and a change in policy which made him appear more prepared. It is, however, this change in plans and inability to explain what these new courses of action are that make his an unstable candidate. Obama, on the other hand, was collected but his straight fact approach without any inovations made him appear bland compared to the new informative Romney, which is why some say Romney might have won this debate.
             Jim Leher was an overall weak moderator. While he did attempt to direct the candidates to speak of issues such as the economy, tax and healthcare, he was unable to keep them in check and on topic within their allotted time limit. Many debate topics went on far longer than they should have and at many occasion both candidates where simply speaking on top of one another making the debate unclear. Yet, Jim Leher did a good job at maintaining sensitive issues such as gay right, woman's health and religion out of the debate in order to keep from offending any viewers at home.
            I believe this debate actually helped Romney come out of his usual "Rich little boy who can't relate to the American people" image. He had  many of his facts straight when it came to issues such as the economy and presented himself well. Some of his vocabulary such as his reference to "poor children" will undoubtedly be picked on by the media, but other than his continuous and aggravated hand gestures, he performed well. Obama just as well kept his usual calm faced and straight to the facts approach, which in this case made him appear tired. Also while his arguments in favor of his plans were solid, his moments of horsing around, such as telling the moderator he still had 5 seconds left, made him appear a bit unprofessional.
           News media websites, such as CNN, are already referring to this presidential election as a horserace, which might not be such a bad thing as it will make the people focus more on the candidates and their platforms as opposed to the parties own beliefs. All in all while this debate did not lose Obama any voters, it brought Romney out as actual competition for the current President.