Presidential Debate President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney 10/03/12 FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT and DEBATE VIDEO
Watch the first 2012 Presidential Debate live from the University of Denver with Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. FULL DEBATE VIDEO. Running time 90:28
Category: News and Politics. License: Standard YouTube License. Published on Oct 3, 2012 by 2012TheVoiceOf.
Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. Moderator: Jim Lehrer (Host of NewsHour on PBS), Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates. Topic: Domestic policy. Location: University of Denver in Denver, Colorado. Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time 10/03/12. The debate focused on domestic policy
FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT: Here is the full text of President Obama and Mitt Romney’s remarks at the first presidential debate in Denver on Oct. 3, 2012.
LEHRER: Good evening from the Magness Arena at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado. I’m Jim Lehrer of the “PBS NewsHour,” and I welcome you to the first of the 2012 presidential debates between President Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee.
LEHRER: This debate and the next three -- two presidential, one vice presidential -- are sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Tonight’s 90 minutes will be about domestic issues and will follow a format designed by the commission. There will be six roughly 15-minute segments with two-minute answers for the first question, then open discussion for the remainder of each segment.
Thousands of people offered suggestions on segment subjects or questions via the Internet and other means, but I made the final selections. And for the record, they were not submitted for approval to the commission or the candidates.
The segments as I announced in advance will be three on the economy and one each on health care, the role of government and governing, with an emphasis throughout on differences, specifics and choices. Both candidates will also have two-minute closing statements.
The audience here in the hall has promised to remain silent -- no cheers, applause, boos, hisses, among other noisy distracting things, so we may all concentrate on what the candidates have to say. There is a noise exception right now, though, as we welcome President Obama and Governor Romney.
(APPLAUSE)
Gentlemen, welcome to you both. Let’s start the economy, segment one, and let’s begin with jobs. What are the major differences between the two of you about how you would go about creating new jobs?
LEHRER: You have two minutes. Each of you have two minutes to start. A coin toss has determined, Mr. President, you go first.
OBAMA: Well, thank you very much, Jim, for this opportunity. I want to thank Governor Romney and the University of Denver for your hospitality.
There are a lot of points I want to make tonight, but the most important one is that 20 years ago I became the luckiest man on Earth because Michelle Obama agreed to marry me.
And so I just want to wish, Sweetie, you happy anniversary and let you know that a year from now we will not be celebrating it in front of 40 million people.
(LAUGHTER)
You know, four years ago we went through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of jobs were lost, the auto industry was on the brink of collapse. The financial system had frozen up.
And because of the resilience and the determination of the American people, we’ve begun to fight our way back. Over the last 30 months, we’ve seen 5 million jobs in the private sector created. The auto industry has come roaring back. And housing has begun to rise.
But we all know that we’ve still got a lot of work to do. And so the question here tonight is not where we’ve been, but where we’re going.
Governor Romney has a perspective that says if we cut taxes, skewed towards the wealthy, and roll back regulations, that we’ll be better off. I’ve got a different view.
I think we’ve got to invest in education and training. I think it’s important for us to develop new sources of energy here in America, that we change our tax code to make sure that we’re helping small businesses and companies that are investing here in the United States, that we take some of the money that we’re saving as we wind down two wars to rebuild America and that we reduce our deficit in a balanced way that allows us to make these critical investments.
ROMNEY: Now, I’m concerned that the path that we’re on has just been unsuccessful. The president has a view very similar to the view he had when he ran four years, that a bigger government, spending more, taxing more, regulating more -- if you will, trickle-down government -- would work.
That’s not the right answer for America. I’ll restore the vitality that gets America working again. Thank you. MORE >>> 2012 presidential debate: President Obama and Mitt Romney’s remarks in Denver on Oct. 3 (full transcript)
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