HEMPSTEAD, NY, Oct 17: US President Barack Obama aggressively challenged Republican candidate Mitt Romney on jobs, energy and Libya in their second debate as the Democrat tried reclaim the momentum in a tight White House race.
Obama was much sharper and more energetic than in their first debate two weeks ago, when his listless performance was heavily criticized and gave Romney’s campaign a much-needed boost.
The incumbent fought back against Romney’s accusations that he had played down the attack by Islamist militants in Libya last month that killed four Americans, including the US Ambassador Chris Stevens.
“I’m the president and I’m always responsible,” Obama said Yesterday.
The two men argued over whether the White House had described the Benghazi attack as terrorism or not, with Obama saying he had in fact called it an act of terror when he spoke in the Rose Garden the following day.
Romney accused his rival of overseeing a stagnant economy. “The middle class has been crushed over the last four years and jobs have been too scarce,” the former Massachusetts governor said.
“I know what it takes to get this economy going,” he said. “I know what it takes to create good jobs again.”
Gamblers seemed to think Obama did well at the debate, in which undecided local voters from New York state’s Nassau County asked questions in an intimate town-hall format.
Online betting site Intrade showed Obama had a 64.4 per cent chance of winning the election after the debate compared to 35.5 per cent for Romney. Before they met, Obama led by 62.2 per cent to 37.8 per cent.
Obama repeatedly accused Romney of misstating his policies as president, and resurrected his charge that the economic proposals put forward by the former private equity executive were designed to protect and bolster the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.
“Governor Romney says he’s got a five-point plan. Governor Romney doesn’t have a five-point plan, he has a one-point plan. And that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules,” Obama said in the debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
(agencies)
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