Romney criticizes energy policies in town hall debate

In their second debate, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney attacked the nation’s four years under President Barack Obama, who argued that he would continue his commitments to the country if elected for a second term.

Candy Crowley of CNN’s “State of the Union” moderated the debate, which was held at Hofstra University.

The debate commenced with a question from Jeremy Epstein, a junior in college who asked what each candidate would do to make it possible for him to support himself after graduation.

“We have to make sure that we make it easier for kids to afford college,” Romney said. “and also make sure that when they get out of college, there’s a job.”

Obama echoed Romney’s rhetoric about making college affordable.

“We’ve got to make sure that we have the best education system in the world,” Obama said. “And the fact that you’re going to college is great, but I want everybody to get a great education, and we’ve worked hard to make sure that student loans are available for folks like you.”

Romney reminded viewers of the poor economy that still exists under Obama and said 23 million Americans are struggling to find jobs.

“The president’s policies have been exercised over the last four years, and they haven’t put Americans back to work,” Romney said. “We have fewer people working today than we had when the president took office.”

Romney said that the recently released national unemployment rate of 7.8 percent, the first time it dipped below 8 percent in Obama’s presidency, did not account for all the people who have dropped out of the workforce.

But Obama attacked his opponent’s five-point job-creation plan, which Romney said would fix the unemployment issue.

“Governor Romney doesn’t have a five-point plan. He has a one-point plan,” Obama said. “And that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules. That’s been his philosophy in the private sector, that’s been his philosophy as governor, that’s been his philosophy as a presidential candidate.”

The candidates clashed on energy issues, specifically on oil production and prices. When the issue of gas prices came up, Romney said production of oil on federal land is down 14 percent because Obama has cut down on licenses and permits.

Although Obama claimed Romney was false and argued that production of oil is increasing, Romney continued his attack on energy and challenged Obama about the rise of gasoline prices. He said if Obama’s energy policies were working, then energy prices would not be so high.

“When the president took office, the price of gasoline here in Nassau County was about $1.86 a gallon,” Romney said. “Now, it’s $4 a gallon. The price of electricity is up.”

Obama said that gas prices were so low before he took office because the nation was on the verge of an economic recession.

“So, it’s conceivable that Governor Romney could bring down gas prices because with his policies, we might be back in that same mess,” Obama said.

In one question directed at Romney, the Republican nominee distanced himself from former President George W. Bush, saying that they were not the same person and this was not the same election.

Obama argued that Romney and Bush have similar economic polices, but differ in social policies.

Obama was also asked about what he had accomplished as president. He listed some of his accomplishments, including his healthcare legislation, the end of the war in Iraq and the orchestrated attack that killed Osama bin Laden.

“The point is the commitments I’ve made, I’ve kept,” Obama said. “And those that I haven’t been able to keep, it’s not for lack of trying, and we’re going to get it done in a second term.”

In response, Romney questioned Obama’s achievements while in office.

“I think you know that these last four years haven’t been so good as the president just described,” Romney said. “And that you don’t feel like your confident that the next four years are going to be much better either.”

Romney said Obama claimed he would lower the unemployment rate to 5.4 percent as president, and that it currently is not even close.

Although Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed responsibility for American deaths in Libya on Oct. 15, Obama still took responsibility for the incident.

“She works for me,” he said. “I’m the president and I’m always responsible, and that’s why nobody’s more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I do.”

While both candidates were aggressive in the town hall debate Tuesday night, some political scientists noted Obama’s performance, which improved significantly from the first debate.

“Obama came swinging back,” said Graham Wilson, department chair of political science at Boston University. “He made all the points he should have made during the first debate.”

Wilson said neither of the candidates performed poorly, but Obama did “fantastically better” than the first performance.

Douglas Kriner, associate professor of political science at BU, said Obama emerged as the victor.

“President Obama was quite passive in the first debate, but tonight, he made a much more forceful defense of his record and sharpened his attacks on Governor Romney’s proposals,” he said in an email.

Thomas Fiedler, dean of BU’s College of Communication, said Obama and Romney had an equal performance.

“Each side is going to be able to come out of this feeling pretty good about the performance of their candidate,” he said in a phone interview.

Fiedler said this debate will not change poll numbers and that there was no clear winner.

“This is like a football game where both teams seem to just move from one 40-yard line to the other 40-yard line, with a lot of just one and two yard gains and pushing and shoving,” Fiedler said. “But no particular big breaks. And nothing that would really change the dynamic going forward.”