Student reactions to the Cheney-Gibbs debate from Ball State Student Media on Vimeo.
While addressing the issues and the upcoming election in Monday night's debate, Robert Gibbs and Liz Cheney treated the audience to an intellectual discussion while throwing in a few comedic one-liners.
While Gibbs and Cheney come from both sides of the political aisle, they came together to offer Ball State students their views of where the country is headed and who they feel is best suited to lead America down that path.
Before going on stage in front of a crowd that filled the entire bottom section of John R. Emens Auditorium, President Jo Ann Gora introduced Cheney, a former Bush counselor and daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, and Gibbs, the current senior adviser to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.
Gerry Dick, host of Inside INdiana Business, moderated the debate.
Both stressed the importance of the upcoming election.
"We are on a path that is moving us forward and putting America in a better place than we were four years ago," Gibbs said in an interview before the debate.
In the same interview, Cheney noted Americans would examine the "stagnant growth" of the economy when they head to the polls in November and see "[Mitt] Romney has experience and knows how the private sector ought to work."
The first part of the debate included opening statements and questions from the moderator. The second half gave students in the audience a chance to step up to a microphone and direct a question toward Gibbs or Cheney.
In his opening statement, Gibbs stressed the importance of students staying involved in the political process.
"This election is too important for you to sit on the sidelines," Gibbs said.
Gibbs then spoke about his view that government should take an active role in society.
"The capitalist system that America has adopted hasn't always treated all of us fairly," Gibbs said.
The former White House press secretary mentioned the government needed to level the playing field.
Cheney had a much different idea of what role the federal government should play in America.
After mentioning the Founding Fathers and their ideas about democracy, Cheney said there is very little that the federal government does well.
There was a wide range of topics discussed, including the Solyndra scandal, unemployment, deficits, education, health care, the Keystone Pipeline, the role of women, the Middle East and voter ID laws.
Gibbs and Cheney each delivered comedic one-liners that drew applause and laughter from the audience.
While defending the bailouts of the automobile companies, Gibbs stressed the fact that the president was not trying to take control of the industry.
"If I had a nickel for every time the president told me that he did not want to run the car industry, I'd be in Mitt Romney's tax bracket," Gibbs said.
Cheney's big one-liner showed she had done a little homework on Ball State and in particular, the football team.
After Gibbs had laid out what Obama would do in his next term, Cheney responded by saying: "They sound like they think they've already won. South Florida and [Indiana University] both thought that they would win, too, until the fourth quarter."
Cheney argued the current administration has failed to deliver on the promises that it made to the American people three and half years ago. She emphasized the 43 consecutive months of 8.3 percent or higher unemployment in the United States under Obama.
Gibbs defended the Obama administration by pointing out the tough situation that it was put into, blaming the Bush administration. Gibbs also said it would take more than four years to get America back on track but was confident that they were moving in the right direction.
While Gibbs and Cheney did not agree on much during their time on stage, they did agree on the fact that students need to stay involved and informed about politics.
Gibbs ended his closing statement by saying, "regardless of your viewpoint, get involved and stay involved."
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