Mind Yo' Business

Four years have gone by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday I was watching Sarah Palin tell Katie Couric about all of the newspapers and literature she consumes in her spare time. It is evident that the American populace was much more intrigued by last term’s election than the lackluster race of 2012. Personally, I remember greatly awaiting the election results of 2008—either way, history was going to be made with the first African American president or the first female vice president. I recall entering the voting booth with my parents as a child, excited to get my first peek at what voting would be like for me in four years. Unfortunately, the Barack Obama-Mitt Romney race of today bears no resemblance to the dramatic, humorous, and groundbreaking former election.

Every election season, I am reluctant to watch the presidential debates. If you have been reading the headlines of Yahoo! News for the last year, then it is easy to predict the topics that will be discussed, along with the viewpoints of each candidate. Tuesday night’s presidential debate was filled with bantering, discourtesy, and the usual persuasive techniques. It appears that Americans have finally managed to master the art of rhetoric filtering—we detect when politicians are simply telling us what we want to hear, rather than dishing out the true tea. The last debate was a healthy mix of petty talk and substantial responses. I am not fervently supporting either campaign, but Obama appeared to have won the debate.

Even if you are one of those people who express an indifference for politics, you must at least care about tax policy, since it affects all of us. “So what I’ve said is, your first $250,000 worth of income, no change. And that means 98 percent of American families, 97 percent of small businesses, they will not see a tax increase,” said the president regarding his proposed tax plan. He also did a fairly decent job of convincing his viewers that Romney is a typical rich guy who does not give two hoots about the middle class.

Furthermore, he made sure to point out yet again that Romney’s tax rate is lower than that of thousands of working-class Americans. Obama recognized that under Romney’s tax plan, major cuts would be given to everyone across the board and create over 800,000 jobs. According to Obama, the problem is that these jobs will be created overseas and not in the mainland United States. Although I am by no means a tax expert, I place my faith in Romney’s plan for the sake of my potential financial growth—as a future investor, I see myself having an incentive to take more risks and generate more gains under a system where I know my earnings will not be heavily taxed.

Another heated topic was the oil market and our involvement in the Middle East. “So here’s what I’ve done since I’ve been president. We have increased oil production to the highest levels in 16 years. Natural gas production is the highest it’s been in decades,” Obama said. He expressed great concern with efficient oil production, and called out Romney for not planning for the future of our environment.

Here’s the thing—Obama is absolutely fantastic at saying things he knows the public, especially the young citizens, will eat up. The modern day youth are obsessed with the environment and equality, two issues that Obama constantly addresses. He spoke of women in business, referencing the “glass ceiling,” and the income gap between men and women. Both candidates spoke of education reform programs that will increase the overall welfare of society as well as the income disparity. Raised by a single mother, he is able to relate to the everyday hardships of Americans. Obama is playing off the interests of the young people because the future of our country is in their hands.