So there was this debate
Oct. 4th, 2012 09:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexThat was, hands down, the worst performance in a debate by a sitting president since Jimmy Carter. Obama got crushed and even David Axelrod is scrambling to put a good face on it. If Romney doesn't pick up 3-4 points in the tracking polls after this one then I'll be stunned.
If I was grading a debate class, Romney would have gotten an A or A+. Obama a C-. Or maybe an F.
Romney looked presidential. He stayed on-message and was crisp with his facts and specifics; Obama wandered, um'ed and repeated himself, and was desperately vague. Exchanges like this made me cringe:
Romney: The Congressional Budget Office says $BLAH.
Obama: Well, your plan $BLAH and that's not just me, that's... that's... an independent organization.
*headdesk*
Obama tried to have it both ways, starting off by saying how bad things were four years ago, then claiming you can't look backward, you have to look forward.
Romney: you made $SPECIFICPROMISE and you didn't do it.
*headdesk*
Romney very cleverly bobbed and wove on his plans, changing his positions from campaign stump-speech rhetoric (e.g. "Repeal Obamacare") to more nuanced stances. He did it on taxes, medicare/social security, financial regulation, and the ACA. And Obama, instead of pointing out the flip-flops just kept boxing at shadows leaving Romney to state "Well, that's not what I just said." Obama almost got him once but it came out so hesitant it was painful. The fact that this is the one sound-bite that's getting repeated in the media shows just how badly Obama presented himself.
Romney managed to upend reality by accusing Obama of The Big Lie. Considering how politifact and factcheck.org have excoriated the Republican speeches and platform this should have been a big ole softball for Obama to swat out of the park but he just let it pass. He could easily have had specifics at his fingertips about how many errors the fact checkers had found in Romney's acceptance speech, or about the repeated big lie that Obama weakened regulatory requirements, but he didn't.
Romney also went all folksy, telling stories about people who've come up to him and Ann and been in bad situations. This was a GODSEND to Obama who should simply have said, "So, Gov Romney, are those people part of the 47%? And if not, who is?" Instead, the best Obama could do was a kind of me-too-ism "Well, I have a folksy story about a teacher, too."
*repeated headdesk*
If Obama loses (and I still think he's got a good chance to win) then I think people will point at last night as Romney's turning point. He's been trying to "reboot" his campaign for weeks but has floundered. Last night he got to do what he does best - attack - and on the area Obama is weakest - the economy.
If I was grading a debate class, Romney would have gotten an A or A+. Obama a C-. Or maybe an F.
Romney looked presidential. He stayed on-message and was crisp with his facts and specifics; Obama wandered, um'ed and repeated himself, and was desperately vague. Exchanges like this made me cringe:
Romney: The Congressional Budget Office says $BLAH.
Obama: Well, your plan $BLAH and that's not just me, that's... that's... an independent organization.
*headdesk*
Obama tried to have it both ways, starting off by saying how bad things were four years ago, then claiming you can't look backward, you have to look forward.
Romney: you made $SPECIFICPROMISE and you didn't do it.
*headdesk*
Romney very cleverly bobbed and wove on his plans, changing his positions from campaign stump-speech rhetoric (e.g. "Repeal Obamacare") to more nuanced stances. He did it on taxes, medicare/social security, financial regulation, and the ACA. And Obama, instead of pointing out the flip-flops just kept boxing at shadows leaving Romney to state "Well, that's not what I just said." Obama almost got him once but it came out so hesitant it was painful. The fact that this is the one sound-bite that's getting repeated in the media shows just how badly Obama presented himself.
Romney managed to upend reality by accusing Obama of The Big Lie. Considering how politifact and factcheck.org have excoriated the Republican speeches and platform this should have been a big ole softball for Obama to swat out of the park but he just let it pass. He could easily have had specifics at his fingertips about how many errors the fact checkers had found in Romney's acceptance speech, or about the repeated big lie that Obama weakened regulatory requirements, but he didn't.
Romney also went all folksy, telling stories about people who've come up to him and Ann and been in bad situations. This was a GODSEND to Obama who should simply have said, "So, Gov Romney, are those people part of the 47%? And if not, who is?" Instead, the best Obama could do was a kind of me-too-ism "Well, I have a folksy story about a teacher, too."
*repeated headdesk*
If Obama loses (and I still think he's got a good chance to win) then I think people will point at last night as Romney's turning point. He's been trying to "reboot" his campaign for weeks but has floundered. Last night he got to do what he does best - attack - and on the area Obama is weakest - the economy.
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no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 02:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 06:07 pm (UTC)Someone on FB speculates that Obama was doing what SunTzu would have advised him to do in The Art of War. "Thanks to following Sun Tzu, Team Obama is now aware of Romney's level of aggressiveness, his ammunition, his tactics, and his plans. Metaphorically, Team Obama knows how strong Romney's army is, how much it has in its arsenal, its ground plan, and it's agenda." But if the President's campaign team is competent it should have known all that before the debate.
Romney did provide sound bites that can be quoted in advertising to show he's a flip-flopper. Look for Biden and Obama to play offense in the remaining debates.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-05 02:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-05 02:16 pm (UTC)However, this points up one of the biggest problems I had with the debate: Obama's complete lack of figures to back up his claims. How hard is it to say that "According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there are now more jobs, more working people in America, than when I came into office. Also according to the BLS the country has now recorded positive job growth 24 months in a row. My opponent claims my plans aren't working but the numbers say something different."
Mutterings in the news today that Obama's going to be "more aggressive" in the next debate, which is WHOLLY the wrong point to make. And Romney has now backed off the 47% remark after getting a free pass on it. It's going to be interesting watching him make this hard left toward the center for the final five weeks.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 03:16 pm (UTC)I still remember Reagan floundering in his first debate with Mondale. However, he had a stronger economy to defend in '84.
Don't get me wrong; Obama still blew it.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 08:46 pm (UTC)