Recently, more than 100 Rice students skipped dinner in the dorms for a spirited student debate at the Baker Institute. The Baker Institute Student Forum‘s “Grade the President” event, which was expertly moderated by BISF president Ruchir Shah, featured eight students, four from the left, and four from the right. Each panelist and audience member received two report cards (one before the debate, and one after the debate) to grade President Obama’s first two years in office. After a series of eloquent arguments, the audience remained deeply divided about the president, with his grade point average moving from a low B to a high B-.
On health care policy, the Rice Young Democrats made a cogent case for the imperative of lowering long-term health care costs while increasing access to affordable care. Rahul Rehki of the Rice Young Democrats cited the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which says the health care reform will reduce the deficit over the next two decades by $1.2 trillion. Sean Sessel, the president of the Rice Conservatives Forum countered with the argument that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, a claim which has divided the courts, and argued that the CBO was operating based on unrealistic assumptions.
Education was another area of sharp division. Myles Bugbee, the president of the Rice Democrats touted President Obama’s “Race to the Top” initiative, which induces local policy innovation and expands access to high-quality charter schools. He lauded the president’s work to reduce the deficit by $60 billion over the next ten years by ending a wasteful student loan subsidy that mainly helps large banks. He also noted President Obama’s successful efforts to double Pell Grant spending and increase community college spending by $2 billion dollars. Ross Tieken of the Rice Conservatives argued for greater local control in schools, saying that the purpose of education is train students to be competent citizens, not to compete in the global economy. The conservative speaker argued that the Race to the Top would fail like President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind policy did.
Foreign policy provided some points of general agreement. Kevin Bush, the vice president of the Rice Young Democrats, praised the president’s support for General David Petraeus in Afghanistan, and noted the need for the new START treaty, a critical arms control agreement with Russia, which was obstructed by the conservative Republicans in the U.S. Senate. Anthony Lauriello of the Rice Conservatives Forum argued that the president’s successes stemmed from the previous administration’s policies.
The biggest clash occurred in the economic arena. On deficits, Democrat Bugbee noted the role of the financial crisis in creating a vicious cycle of deleveraging and high unemployment that cripples economic growth. He also praised the deficit-reducing potential of the Independent Payment Advisory Board for Medicare, a critical cost control measure in the Affordable Care Act. Conservative Lauriello responded by lambasting purportedly inefficient stimulus spending. This exchange crystallized the divide between the Democrats, who argued that a demand shortfall required fiscal stimulus, and the conservatives, who argued that now is the time for fiscal austerity.
Wall Street reform featured another philosophical divide between Democrat Bush, who backed the president’s financial regulation bill that is designed to prevent another financial crisis, and Conservative Sessel, who opposed onerous new regulations. Sessel pointed out that the new financial regulatory reform institutionalizes “too big to fail.” Bush responded by saying that resolution authority is critical to resolving the accounts of failing firms. Sessel also acknowledged that he opposed the auto rescue, accepting that his opposition to the bailout of GM and Chrysler could have led to the temporary or permanent loss of millions of jobs in the auto industry and fields that depend on both companies.
On Main Street, Neeraj Salhotra of the Rice Young Democrats and Taylor Williams of the Rice Conservatives Forum disputed the rationale for extending unemployment benefits, and contested the efficacy of the $787 billion federal stimulus. The conservative speaker posited that the president’s small business loan program would not succeed because small businesses face a demand problem, not a credit problem. On this point, the Democrats agree that additional stimulus measures are necessary, whereas conservatives favored a return to the conservative Republican economic policies of tax cuts and deregulation.
Baker Institute founding director Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian, who attended, said that the debate “was much more informed and civil than what goes on in real politics.” One can only hope that the politicians in Washington will follow the example of Rice students.
Myles Bugbee is the co-chair for the Events Committee of the Baker Institute Student Forum, a nonpartisan student group dedicated to fostering student involvement in public policy. Bugbee, who is originally from Oregon, voted in his home state by absentee ballot. Here in Texas, he is working to promote political engagement at Rice.