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Bryon Houlgrave/The Register
Written by Jennifer Jacobs
and Jason Noble
FILED UNDER News Politics
Obama made repeated references to Tuesday night’s debate, which was considered a far better showing for the president than a widely panned low-energy effort in the first debate.
“I’m still trying to figure out, you know, how to get the hang of this thing,” Obama said Wednesday, to laughter. “But we’re working on it, you know, and we’ll keep on improving as time goes on. I’ve got one left.”
Election 2012: Comprehensive Iowa voter guide
Campaigns, media chime in on visionObama offered what he described as a recap of what voters learned in the debate about Romney.
“His tax plan doesn’t add up. His jobs plan doesn’t create jobs. His deficit reduction plan adds to the deficit,” Obama said. “So Iowa, you know, everybody here’s heard of the New Deal. You’ve heard of the Fair Deal. You’ve heard of the square deal. Mitt Romney’s trying to sell you a sketchy deal.”
In response, Romney campaign aides said Obama was in Iowa “trying to stop the momentum that Gov. Romney has gained as Election Day approaches, but instead, he was greeted by former supporters openly apologizing for helping elect him (in a full-page ad in the Cedar Rapids Gazette), reports citing new momentum for Republicans, strong reviews for Gov. Romney in last night’s debate, and the Fort Dodge Messenger’s endorsement of Gov. Romney.”
“As he continues to attack Mitt Romney rather than offer a vision for the next four years, this is not the news coverage the president wanted during his trip to Iowa,” said Shawn McCoy, Romney’s Iowa campaign spokesman.
A chorus of national voices suggested Obama missed a chance in the debate to spell out a second-term vision.
“Do you have a plan that excites you and me to get out of my chair and say, ‘That’s the guy, that’s it, that’s the person I want to follow now’? He has not closed that deal,” said New York Times columnist Tom Friedman.
Time magazine’s Mark Halperin said: “He didn’t lay out a second term agenda any more than he did in the first debate. And that is where he is the weakest.”
On Wednesday, Obama told Iowans his plan is to export more products and outsource fewer jobs by giving “tax breaks to companies that are investing right here in Iowa.”
He wants to give subsidies to wind and solar, not oil. He wants Americans to have “a chance to get a great education.” And he wants to spend on roads, bridges and care for veterans, he said.
On the deficit, he said, “I’m ready to cut more spending that is not contributing to our growth.”
Professors: Maybe vision is overratedWas it enough to make the case to Iowans?
Iowa is deeply polarized, so that will be enough for about half the voters, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
However, Sabato also said, “I’ve never fully understood the frequent call over the years for ‘the vision thing.’ Any president understands that he is going to spend most of his time in the second term implementing the first term’s agenda, and handling crises that were totally unexpected at campaign time.”
Another reason not to get more specific about vision, he said: “Anything controversial will add to Obama’s woes. The election is 20 days away.”
Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia, said he thinks voters are looking for results — an improving economy — and how policy changes might affect them.
“The president’s problem is that the economy has improved somewhat, but not enough to guarantee his re-election,” Kondik said.
Leonard Steinhorn, a communications professor at American University, said the media are addicted to the search for new details and fresh angles, but “this president has a plan.”
“To ask him for a new vision as if his current vision isn’t adequate is to really put an unrealistic expectation on any president going for re-election,” he said.
The trip through Iowa was a quick one. Air Force One was on the ground at Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids for less than three hours before Obama flew on to Ohio, another swing state with a deeply torn electorate.
— Jennifer Jacobs and Jason Noble |
