I agree with this point.... further, Obama has mastered the ability to essentially just keep going and shoot down moderators/reporters with just a look. Romney is not as commanding, he had to virtually argue with the moderator and raise his voice. A few times he almost went too far and came across as a bully, but he straddled the line and pulled it off. Romney was nervous, Obama just looked tired..... but it is acceptable for Romney to be nervous, it was the biggest debate of his life........ however no excuse for Obama to be distracted/tired....
I've just finished watching the whole debate on CNN.com and I will give it to Romney that said I don't think it was that big of a Romney victory as many are portraying it to be. While Obama didn't do great he didn't do terrible and didn't look or sound to me like he was on barbituates as one poster described him. Here are my grades and impressions. Romney gets an A for this debate. He was focused and came out with a controlled aggression. What he did overall the best was essentially make a case for compassionate conservatism best summed up when he was talking about the pursuit of happiness. IMO this was the best he's done this whole campaign summing up what he is running about. He did a good job also taking it to Obama but one thing I give him credit for was that he never came off as angry or disrespectful. I give Obama a B. He certainly had opportunities where he could've attacked more and he appeared to have much less energy than Romney. One thing I noticed at the beginning of the debate was that while Romney is older than Obama Obama appeared more tired. The bags under Obama's eyes and the grey in his hair looked more pronounced and I think that was one reason why many had the feeling that Obama was asleep. I don't think though that substantively affected what Obama was saying but gave that impression. A lot has been made about that Obama was stammering and gave long winded answers but that is anyone's style. Just watch the SNL characterization of him and that is one of the trademarks that they use. In that sense I didn't think he sounded much different than what he normally does. I give Jim Lehrer a D. This was a poorly moderated debate and it's probably time for him to pass on the moderator torch to someone else. Overall I think perception of this debate has been widely shaped by expectations so Romney's performance is magnified while Obama's reduced. There was an expectation by many that Romney would do poorly and he didn't. He did well and blew away those expectations while Obama didn't perform up to what many expected of him. After seeing the debate I stand by my earlier idea that Obama not going on the attack was deliberate. I am more convinced that part of the strategy was for Obama to play defense and not go aggressively against Romney hoping that Romney would make a major gaffe or come off as angry. Watching the CNN live opinion tracker lends some support to that because when Obama would call out Romney the tracker would dip, especially among men, while it would rise when Obama would talk about what he has done and areas of common ground. I suspect that the Obama campaign has done their own internal research and wanted to be cautious about Obama appearing to aggressive. One more thing about this debate in my opinion is that while it lacked zingers it was a good debate, one where both candidates appeared far more respectful of each other than we have come to expect from presidential debates. While there were sharp differences I never got the feeling that either were dismissive of the other and the handshake at the end seemed genuine. This might all be a well played act on the part of both but I found it refreshing in today's politics.
THis is another area where perception is mistaken. Obama is clearly taking notes when he is looking down. Rewatch the debates and you will see that Romney is doing the exact same thing many times.
This x1000. Lehrer sucked, bad. There's "letting them play" style reffing, and then there's "might as well not be there" reffing. Romney's aggression was served 10 fold by Lehrer's passivity and downright disappearance at times. Obama should have snapped out of it after he realized that Lehrer was going to let Romney walk all over the rules, but he didn't, and he got what was coming to him as a result.
This...... Obama is an adult, being President isn't always about what is fair.... after 20 minutes Obama should have countered, and he did for about 30 seconds, but then just backed off and faded.... if he cannot fix the problem over the next few weeks he does not deserve to be President.....
Just keep in mind that one is president and one isn't. Lehrer wasn't going to argue with the President of the United States. I think Romney actually did do great, but I agree that Obama didn't do terrible. He did Obama. When he was against McCain it looked better because McCain isn't a great communicator either. Fair. I'd probably give him an A+. After watching him debate in the primaries I was blown away at how good he was last night. In the primaries he was weak. The best compliment he ever got for his performance was it wasn't bad or that he "looked presidential." My opinion on this? I think Romney is swerving to be who he is. He's not an ultra conservative ideologue. Romney is a corporate, compassionate conservative. (To use your term) In these debates where his audience is broader than the Republican base he seems like he will be energized. That's fair. I'd probably do the same. I also echo your comments about his speech patterns. Like I said, against McCain it didn't matter because McCain wasn't a good communicator in that format either. Against Romney it suddenly will be perceived differently. I'd give him an F. 1) It was poorly moderated. If he wanted to enforce the time he should have and should have been willing to do it to both men. After the first segment where they both struggled to stay on time he should have said "from this point forward I will be cutting you off if you get too far past your time." If he wasn't willing to be forceful with both men he should have just quit trying. 2) The questions were terrible. TERRIBLE. Each of his scripted questions was "Is there a difference between the two of you on...". Are you serious? That's what he came up with that he made sure to tell us "was not submitted for approval?" Overall I think perception of this debate has been widely shaped by expectations so Romney's performance is magnified while Obama's reduced.
No, the times they are talking about is when the two men would sort of be going at it and Romney would look directly at the president and Obama wouldn't be able to look at him. I think this is stupid personally, but I get why it is effective. Americans have this dumb "alpha male" concept. Obama isn't really that guy. He's cold and smooth. This post reflects your bias. Obama walked all over the rules himself. He took as much time as he wanted. You only perceive that it was Romney walking over the rules because Lehrer was intimated by the president and not by Romney. It several of Obama's answers you can hear Lehrer mumble for a second like he's going to tell him to hurry up or move on or something but he won't push the issue. Obama ended up getting more speaking time than Romney on the whole. (not that it matters.)
And this post reflects yours. I've yet to see a single person who didn't think Romney pushed around Lehrer at will, speaking out of turn, interrupting, refusing to cede the final words, etc. No one described Obama as "bullying" or "rude" last night. I can admit that Obama, from a stylistic standpoint, got his ass kicked. As such, I think you can admit that Romney colored more outside the lines as a result of his aggressiveness.
Im not a political whiz by any means but if my wife and we make 70k per year, where can i find out how much i will pay under romney's plan? Also, under what romney has revealed about his tax plan, he said that he would be cutting a bunch of programs such as the American Opportunity Credit. I use that credit for my school that is ridiculously expensive.
My bias? I can't stand Romney! This section reveals that you didn't read my post. I already said Romney pushed around Lehrer. The point is that Obama didn't have to because Lehrer was afraid to challenge him because he's the president. FOr all the "speaking out of turn, interrupting, refusing to cede the final words, etc." that Romney did, Obama had more time to speak by 4 minutes.
