BISF event gives Obama "C

By Justin Ng     10/28/10 7:00pm

Students might be used to seeing their grades drop after a midterm. However, United States President Barack Obama's grade dropped from a B to a C+ after a panel debate hosted by the Baker Institute Student Forum in the Doré Commons last Friday evening.Teams of four representatives from the Young Democrats and the Conservatives Forum tried to persuade the audience to agree to their respective grades on health care, international relations, education, and three economic topics: the deficit, Wall Street, and Main Street.

The Democrats gave Obama respective grades of A-, A-, B+, A-, A- and A-, for an overall grade of A-. The Conservatives gave respective grades of F, C+, C+, F, D and F for an overall grade of D-.

Audience members were issued two cards, before and after the discussion, on which to grade Obama. Debaters rallied statistics and counter-arguments to win the audience to their respective sides.

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"President Obama inherited a recession in which 8 million jobs were lost; a recession precipitated by financial crisis, which, as an Economist article stated last week, means a painful and slow recovery," Democrat and Hanszen junior Myles Bugbee said in defense of government spending and the 2010 stimulus package. "The country is caught in a vicious cycle where consumers lack the confidence to spend and companies continue to lay off workers."

Bugbee took the Affordable Care Act of 2010, which is projected to save $1.2T over the next two decades, as one example of Obama's preparedness to reduce the deficit, and said that the country could not afford another $700M in tax cuts to the wealthy.

His conservative opponent, Weiss sophomore Anthony Lauriello, conceded that Obama had inherited the recession but called the $787B stimulus a pathetic response that went to solar panels in remote areas.

Lauriello pointed out that unemployment was at 9.8 percent and argued that Bugbee's $1.2T figure was based on several assumptions, including that union plans would be taxed even thought they finance most of the Democratic Party.

"Any third grader can tell you how to reduce the deficit," Lauriello said. "Spend less."

For every topic, each side had three minutes for initial remarks, ninety seconds to cross-examine the opposition, and a joint two minutes to answer questions from the audience of around 120 students, faculty, and guests.

Conservative and Hanszen junior Ross Tieken said his team could have done a better job but they were impeded by time restraints. The Conservatives' position was further weakened by the addition of the ninety second cross examination period suggested by the Democrats at the last minute, Tieken said.

Nevertheless, it was a very fair debate, Tieken said.

Although the debate was caustic at times, both sides kept their attention on the policy issues on the table.

"[The debate] was much more informed and civil than what goes on in real politics," the Baker Institute's founding director Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian said. "There was no mudslinging, no invective... the nature of the debate was very appealing."

Audience members were eager to join the discussion.

"How do you propose to make Muslims not hate us?" one student asked in response to the Conservative side's point that Islamic anti-American sentiment results from fundamental theological difficulties which cannot be fixed.

"So many people were raising their hands.... people usually say Rice students are apathetic and point out their lack of political involvement, but here they [weren't]," Lauriello said afterward.

Students continued to voice their thoughts even after the debate had ended.

"It was an intellectually stimulating conversation that raised awareness for the difficulties in bringing a solution to these issues," Hanszen junior Apoorv Bhargava said.

At the end of the evening, the audience's second round of cards revealed that Obama's collective GPA had decreased from 3.20 to 2.90. The Democrats waved aside the results.

"As long as it taught people about the issues, the debate was a success," Democrat and Sid Richardson sophomore Neeraj Salhotra said.

BISF President Ruchir Shah agreed that the event was a success, but he pushed for a greater participation from the student body.

"We should have 3,000 students here," Shah, a McMurtry College junior, said. "People should be interested in what their fellow Ricers are passionate about and have to say."

The Rice University Young Democrats is a club at Rice University for progressively minded and politically engaged students. Representing the Young Democrats were Young Democrats president Bugbee, Duncan junior Kevin Bush, and Sid Richardson sophomores Rahul Rekhi and Salhotra.

The Rice University Conservatives Forum is a club at Rice University for conservatively minded and politically engaged students. Representing the Conservatives Forum were Conservatives Forum president and Hanszen senior Sean Sessel, Tieken, Lauriello, and Hanszen sophomore Taylor Williams.

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