Mitt
Romney argued that President Obama failed to explain his second-term
agenda during Tuesday night's debate, and stressed that he loved the
showdowns with his opponent.
"I have to be honest with you," Romney said, speaking at a rally in
Virginia Beach. "I love these debates. These things are great."
Notably, Romney did not mention the administration's handling of the
terrorist attack in Libya, a frequent refrain in recent stump speeches
but a stumbling block on Tuesday night.
Instead, the
Republican nominee launched into attacking the president's
performance, declaring he found it "interesting the president still
doesn't have an agenda in the next term."
"He’s got to come up with that over this weekend because there's only one debate left on Monday," Romney quipped.
Romney
then began reeling through some of the questions from the previous
evening, referring to the participants in the nationally televised town-hall discussion by name — and pivoting into questions he would have
asked the president on the same issue.
He said the woman named
Katherine who spoke about women in the work force deserved an explanation for why the
unemployment rate for women had risen, and that the president had
evaded the question on gasoline prices.
"When it comes to his policies, and his answers, and his agenda,
he's pretty much running on fumes," Romney said. "The American people
want real answers."
But there's a risk that the pointed lines and
sharp retorts might have come too late for the Republican nominee, with
snap polls after Tuesday night's debate each giving the president a
win.
Still, Romney and his allies looked to exhibit confidence in the
debate's immediate aftermath, hoping to prevent a backslide after making
huge gains in the polls after his first debate.
Romney's statements contrasted with a wry Obama, who told an audience moments earlier in Iowa that he was still
working on his debate form.
"I'm still trying to figure out how
to get the hang of this thing, debating," Obama said to loud cheers.
"But we're working on it. I've got one left."
And in a statement Wednesday, the Obama campaign swiped at Romney's criticism.
“One of the reasons why President Obama won last night’s debate is that he has a vision for his second term with specific, achievable goals to strengthen the middle class," Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement. "All that Mitt Romney has offered to date are sketchy deals like a tax plan that would raise taxes on the middle class to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and a jobs ‘plan’ that independent news organizations and fact-checkers have pointed out won’t actually create jobs. If Mitt Romney wants to talk about plans, he might want to start with coming up with some of his own.”
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who introduced Romney at the Wednesday event, said that he
"did not hear one thing from Barack Obama that suggests the next four
years is going to be any different than the last for years."
"So,
Mr. President, if you can’t lead step aside and let a real leader take
over the White House," McDonnell said, adding that voters saw Tuesday
night a "tremendous contrast between the two men on the issues that
matter."
"Boy, didn't he do a good job in that debate once again?" McDonnell said.
At
the conclusion of his remarks, Romney stressed that there were now
under three weeks left in the election, and Virginia's opportunity to
swing the contest.
"In 20 days we decide what kind of America we're going to have," Romney said.
