Second Assault

In the second of the three presidential debates, taking place in New York, Barack Obama has taken the initiative and has shown himself to be more aggressive and convincing than Mitt Romney. He has regained part of the playing field lost in the first meeting in Denver. In the first debate, Romney situated himself for the first time as a possible candidate in the polls, taking from the president crucial voters from women and Hispanics. But Romney resisted well in the most recent debate. It is not probable, in any case, that many doubtful electors have gained clarity. From those exchanges it is still not clear what Romney’s first term, or Obama’s second, would look like.

In this passionate American campaign of 2012, the television debates have become a decisive factor. Today, the polls result in a technical tie before the first Tuesday of November. Just as important as the debates, or more so, is the money the campaigns have dedicated to television ads, or other ads. Romney’s campaign, which raised no more than $170 million (130 million euros) in September, got ready to bombard his potential electors with $12 million worth of ads yesterday, especially in key states such as Florida and Ohio. It remains to be seen if the current Democratic president will regain his advantage. In this moment, in New York we saw a more solid Obama that was defending his stances concerning taxes, health care, women’s equality, wage inequality and immigration. The Republican candidate had his strongest moments when questioning the economic situation and unemployment, with figures that have improved — 7.8 percent in September — but are high for the U.S.

Until now foreign politics have not been discussed, as opposed to domestic policy which is of greater interest to Americans, although the rest of the world is very interested. In foreign policy the differences are scarce; the biggest one is defense spending, which Obama wants to reduce by almost 3 percent and that Romney wants to increase by 4 percent — a difference of $2 billion, which is not trivial.

Obama has a balance to maintain and a presence to uphold before a Romney who has been changing his persona when the time calls for it. A specter that reappeared in the debate has added to this burden: George W. Bush’s ghost and the financial and economic crisis that began under his command.