Left and Right Come Together to Slam Obama’s Bomb of a Night (and Lehrer)
The first 2012 presidential debate won’t be remembered for any bombastic lines in the vein of Ronald Reagan or Lloyd Bentsen, or the perspiration visual of Richard Nixon.
In fact, the most-talked about takeaways from the evening will most likely be Big Bird and Jim Lehrer — both of whom had parody Twitter accounts and thousands of followers before the 90-minute debate even ended.
But tonight’s debate had even liberal pundits complaining about the performance of the president.
“I can’t even follow him half the time. Either exhausted, over-briefed … or just flailing. He’s throwing debate away,” tweeted Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Beast.
“Obama made a lot of great points tonight. Unfortunately, most of them were for Romney,” tweeted comedian Bill Maher.
Even Vanity Fair tweeted, “Has Obama ever been this off his game?”
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had an awkward moment where he said he didn’t support the Simpson-Bowles debt-reduction plan, but President Obama should have. Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), half of the president’s appointed deficit-reduction commission, was in the audience at the University of Denver.
“Simpson-Bowles, the president should have grabbed that,” Romney said in response to a question from Lehrer on whether he supported the commission’s recommendations.
“No, I mean, do you support Simpson-Bowles?” Lehrer pressed.
“I have my own plan. It’s not the same as Simpson-Bowles. But in my view, the president should have grabbed it,” Romney said.
Obama argued that he had snatched up the plan and tweaked it to his liking before presenting it to Congress — but if there was one thing that brought left and right together tonight, it was the general agreement from professional and armchair pundits alike that Obama wasn’t arguing for much of anything at this debate, never mind fighting passionately for it.
Obama’s talking points, honed in debate practice sessions with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) acting as Romney, were largely retreads of his campaign stump speeches, though less finely tuned. While Romney gave the predictable bemused looks toward Obama and the president responded to Romney’s points with some characteristic smirks, Obama’s attitude out of the gate was oddly more contrite than cocky.
In this seemingly Herculean effort to remain measured and not display an off-putting attitude toward Romney, Obama came across as bland and dispassionate.
On what should have been a warring point on entitlement reform, the president said, “I suspect that, on Social Security, we’ve got a somewhat similar position. Social Security is structurally sound. It’s going to have to be tweaked the way it was by Ronald Reagan and Speaker — Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill. But it is — the basic structure is sound.”
Totally absent were the expected hit lines on the 47 percent, the Cayman Islands, and even Obama’s “economic patriotism” meme tailored to moderates that he seemed to have been saving for the home stretch of the campaign and put into use within the past week to describe his fairness doctrine.
But the attitude that came across in Obama’s “you’re likable enough” comment directed at Hillary Clinton four years ago was actually directed at Lehrer this time. When the moderator told the president that his two minutes were up, Obama snapped at Lehrer, “No, I think — I had five seconds before you interrupted me.”
Romney fired a volley in Lehrer’s direction in talking about PBS funding.
“I’m sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS, I love Big Bird. Actually like you, too. But I’m not going to — I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for. That’s number one,” Romney said.
“I guess Romney forgot how to get to Sesame Street!” tweeted DC councilman Marion Barry, who was watching the debate at DNC headquarters “along with other loyal Democrats.”
Obama on the phone right now begging Bibi to attack Iran.
That’s a great line. You must tweet it.
I don’t have a tweet account. You can do it. And maybe add Axlerod now saying that he doesn’t really know this Obama fellow, that he’s just some guy he vaguely remembers from the neighborhood.
2012/08/20/americans-hope-to-change-the-occupant-of-the-white-house-an-anti-american-potus-runs-an-un-american-campaign-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki/ via our absentee ballots.The push is on.
FYI – his penchant to tar Romney as non-transparent and a keeper of secrets, plus his desire to become the advocate of the middle class, is laughable and mendacious. Not only that, anyone who is not in a coma, surely sees that he is the most secretive POTUS in US history (hey, all his records are hidden in vaults!) and he has eviscerated the economic bases of the middle class to shreds. Therefore, he is a clear and present danger to the middle class.
The middle class in America has been in decline since the 1970s. Romney would lower taxes on the wealthy and super-wealthy (like himself), therefore, at some point necessitating higher taxes on the middle calss. In addition the American middle class is helped by Medicare, Medicaid (which pays for nursing homes for middle calss people who have spent down their resources) and Social Secutiry – which Romeny and Ryan would cut.
Replying to “Golda” below Adina comment….
“The middle class in America has been in decline since the 1970s.”
I assume that (a) you do not live in America, or (b) you are much too young to have been on this planet since 1970 or before, or (c.) you have lived mostly as a failure and you seek a scapegoat, or (d.) that you are still pissed that the economy during and since Reagan was an unparalleled economic success that has lifted millions and especially minorities (at least those that do not seek dependency) into the middle-class and beyond at unprecedented rates, or (e.) you cannot abide that the pathetic failure that now occupies the White House will go down in history as the man who destroyed it all, or (f.) you are a sour-puss Democrat drone. Or, possibly all of the above. Please furnish statistical evidence of the validity of your statement. You cannot. Wow! What an amazingly ignorant statement!
“Golda” is obviously confusing tax rates with tax revenues. Even JFK realized that lowering tax rates brings in increased tax revenues. Romney would reduce tax rates across the board, which gives people an incentive to invest their money, rather than put it into tax shelters. Romney would also eliminate loopholes and deductions. However, the bottom line is that we wouldn’t NEED more tax dollars, or even nearly as much as we take in now, if the government wasn’t spending it on so much b.s.; foreign aid to our enemies, soldiers stationed in places that can take care of themselves, free Obamaphones, Solyndra and the other ‘green energy’ scams, and PBS (which makes multi-millions off of toy sales) just to name a few.
Golda clearly is not well-read. I would guess that the last time she did any significant analysis of any significant subject was…never.
As evidence, she did not even listen to what Romney said last night regarding taxes on the wealthy and the middle class. Didn’t listen, didn’t understand. It is unfortunate that our society has gotten to this point: “If the theory and the facts disagree, so be it the worse for the facts”. Golda and her cohorts exemplify this tendency in today’s political discourse.
Golda, how in the world is lowering taxes for the wealthy going to necessitate to higher taxes for the middle class? That does NOT make any sense whatsoever. Romney’s plan is to lower taxes for EVERYONE, the rich, the poor, and the middle class alike. You see, it has been flat out PROVEN historically that when our government actually LOWERS taxes, it takes in MORE tax revenue. This has been proven time and time again. The government lowers taxes, people spend and invest more. People spend and invest more, businesses make more money. Businesses make more money, they hire more people. More people get hired, more people pay taxes. More people pay taxes, government tax income actually goes up. It’s common bloody sense, for crying out loud. When will you libtards finally wake up to something called reality?
Golda, by the way, I would cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security too. You see, those are actually UNNECESSARY government costs that NEED to be cut. By privatizing them, we can cut the government’s annual budget by about $2 trillion. By privatizing Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, EVERYONE wins, as well. They become cheaper and more efficient, lol. Isn’t that what we want?
Cat got his claws out tonight! Good one.
Bibi is a canny old fox. While America was watching the debate, he was watching Iran. Obama will rapidly have another foreign policy headache, deciding how to react as the Iranian currency collapses. Currency implosions are far worse than a regime collapse. The latter can be remedied by placing another regime in charge. No can do with a junk currency.
Interesting take…O’bummer/O’bungler begging Bibi. Like it.
Actually, even with the 6 hrs time difference, I stayed up late in Israel to watch the debate. I was expecting ‘The One’ to be more polished and brash. He was ANYTHING but. He revealed himself as an empty suit, incapable of standing up to a man who can think on his feet, as well as outside the box.
Americans (and many Israeli-Americans too!) hope to change the POTUS – http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/08/20/americans-hope-to-change-the-occupant-of-the-white-house-an-anti-american-potus-runs-an-un-american-campaign-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki/ via our absentee ballots.The push is on.
FYI – his penchant to tar Romney as non-transparent and a keeper of secrets, plus his desire to become the advocate of the middle class, is laughable and mendacious. Not only that, anyone who is not in a coma, surely sees that he is the most secretive POTUS in US history (hey, all his records are hidden in vaults!) and he has eviscerated the economic bases of the middle class to shreds. Therefore, he is a clear and present danger to the middle class.
Touché, homeless feline.
When you know you are getting owned in a debate: when you try to spin it as part of a strategy to “force your opponent to peak too early”
Obama’s bad showing in this debate did not surprise me a bit, and it has nothing to do with any strategy.
Obama has never worked hard to achieve or obtain anything in his entire life. In the hard-left circles he has always carefully chosen to inhabit, everything has been handed to him by mindless liberals who swooned at the articulate African-American.
Once elected president, he was acutely aware that any and all of his tens of thousands of bald faced lies would be covered up and even praised by our utterly corrupt, simple-minded, pathologically dishonest media.
His self-absorption and vast ego fed on their zealous and continuous worship. And knowing the media would actively cover up any crime he commits, short of murdering somebody on live national television, he got lazy.
He is really, really not accustomed to anybody challenging him. He expects only continuous, mindless praise. He expects everyone to lie, cheat and sacrifice themselves for him. And he will do what he has done his entire life, which is to exert virtually no effort himself.
A commenter on another site said, “Romney gave Obama an honor. Romney treated Obama like a white man.”
Wil, you are right. He has never liked doing his homework. It shows.
The deal when Obama was elected was he would never have to work — He was offering the left his skin tone and his non-fiery personality, which was needed to convince swing voters he wasn’t Thin Al Sharpton. In exchange, the Democrats and the big media anointed Obama with Absolute Moral Authority and near-deity status.
That, in turn, was supposed to mean Obama would rule by decree. He’d simply say “I want National Health Care!” or “I want Card Check” and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi would go out and do the heavy lifting for him, while other Dems and the media would demonize anyone opposing Obama as a racist who should be written out of the political conversation. And once the measure was passed, Obama would then be given all the credit to heighten his status, and the cycle would start again with a new pet liberal program.
Obama never took this job because he thought he was going to have to work hard at it. And despite his statements last week about Romney being a better debater, he never thought he was going to have to work hard at preparing for Wednesday night’s event, because he thought even if he want on stage for 90 minutes and drooled on himself (the Democrats are saving that strategerie for Biden’s VP debate), the media and other Democrats would be able to simply spin things afterwards as an Obama win or seize on something Romney said and make that the post-debate story.
Given Obama’s ego, it’s going to be interesting to see if there’s any introspection from the president about his failures on Wednesday, or if he’s simply going to believe his minions on the party and the media failed him by not slanting the post-debate story correctly, and the strategy for the Town Hall debate isn’t to practice harder, but to see if they can somehow rig the audience to ask as many leading anti-Mitt questions as possible.
Van Jones said on CNN:
“Mitt Romney out Obamaed Obama”!
“was the president’s bland, dispassionate performance actually part of a campaign strategy?”
Certainly, dovetails nicely with his “you didn’t build that”, lead from behind, less campaign donations, smaller swooning crowds, sacrificing ambassador Stevens on Sept 11 to silence a parolee’s anti-Islamist video, 8%+ unemployment, $4+ gas price. All strategery.
Another strategy: win the election by losing big on Nov.6.
Your analysis is funny and spot on. Every time we watched this President since he came on the political scene he was apologizing or retreating on the greatness of our nation and us. We need a man that lifts us up and we saw that man last night.
– calls Obama effete, then the debate over the debate is over.
I watched some of the results on CNN and it was interesting to see the entire staff despondent. Candy Crowley interviewed Axlerod and for the first time he actually stuttered! He started to say that Romney will have to explain his bogus numbers on his programs and Crowley actually CUT HIM OFF! She said lets keep it to the debate and not about future actions. He was delightfully confused and almost belligerent with Crowley. I almost could smell a change in attitude towards the president from the CNN staff. Even Carville was morose and said that Romney won.
The 2007 Hampton University video released yesterday/day before may account for Obama’s “constipated” demeanor. He may have felt that enough people may have been rattled by that video’s bombast and fire that he needed to dial things back.
I thought the same thing! I also thought he looked exhausted.
It must have been all that golf.
Probably the dam tour went on too long, so he was dam tired.
Starring Barack Obama:
“Things To Do in Denver When Your Presidency’s Dead”
Good one!
No, hold on here. I think Bridget has a point. Obama’s “throw the debate” strategy dovetails perfectly with his “use smaller venues to create intimacy” strategy. As opposed to (say) the simple fact that he can’t fill the big halls any more.
Or play with the big dogs in a debate… Heh.
Haven’t you heard a “Republican” commentator on CNN lamented that the huge crowds turn out for Romney-Ryan made Romney look “unpresidential”?
“As opposed to (say) the simple fact that he can’t fill the big halls any more.”
BO’s appeal is becoming more selective.
He’ll be playing second fiddle to puppet shows soon . . .
If you want to play with the big dogs in a debate, you need practice. Obama has been coddled for the last 4 years. He only appears before friendly media who ask him softballs. If he had really wanted to prepare to debate real opposition, he would have appeared on Fox News and Rush Limbaugh every month.
I think the Obama strategy was to play it safe, calm, statesman-like because, one, they have the lead and, secondly they know that Obama’s condescension and arrogance don’t play well, so they figured that Obama shouldn’t engage Romney too strongly as a hectoring Obama would be off-putting. I think it backfired tremendously because Obama couldn’t conceal those negatives but at the same time he also appeared timid and weak which was a stark contrast to a vibrant Romney.
Obama will be more aggressive in the next debates but this will also open him up to the problem they tried to conceal in the first place. The thing is that Obama’s 2008 magic rested on the hope of a vague better future with better people etc. but that’s not an angle an incumbent, who has already shown that he can’t deliver the miracles befitting his campaign rhetoric, can play. Obama needs to defend his record but he doesn’t like to, he’d prefer to contrast his vision with his strawman of Romney’s vision. But if Romney remains as vigilant as he was today, this will be a tough task in debates, because Romney can reply convincingly and make Obama look like the one with a grudge and a tendency to lie.
The big deal is that Romney needs to keep his game up and has to be prepared for everything, Obama *will* throw away a lot more aggro his way the next time around. Make a mockery of that by throwing clever and likeable statements back at Obama and it will take the air right out of it.
This election is about the USURPERS record and he cant run away from the pathetic failure that has been on all fronts. Which is one reason why they tried so hard to pin the US Ambassador to Libya’s death on a none entity of a video because the TRUTH exposes the USURPER’s cow towing, Muslim ars* licking, apologist Foreign Policy to be the colossal failure it quite clearly is.
Under the USURPER the debt has grown , and CONTINUES to grow, at a totally unsupportable rate, the US economy is stagnant, US unemployment has been over 8% for 43 months which is longer than it had been collectively in the last 200 years. He cannot run on HIS record which is why he is STILL constantly running against Bush FOUR YEARS LATER.
Obama looked annoyed in a few of the shots during the debate. If Romney can draw out his petulant side, the way Ryan and McCain have in deliberations over policy, the nastiness will be off-putting to most, showing Obama to be the small character on the big stage that the press have been covering for, and not the cool head that the left imagine him to be.
Obama is going to feel obliged to be extra-aggressive in the next debate. LOL.
It’s going to backfire.
It’s a clear sign that Obamageddon is imminent: 33 days to go! =^[.]^=
The Ambassador of Kenya telling close friends that Obama has asked for asylum there. Apparently Obama is very concerned that the Chicago Boys aren’t too happy with his debate performance.
If that’s the case, I suspect he’s more concerned with prosecution, should his education records ever be unsealed and reveal that he applied for aid as a foreign student, which would potentially have all KINDS of unpleasant, far-reaching consequences.
That said, a luxury condo on O’ahu is a far cry from Kenya. =’[.]‘=
– aren’t losers, just “low key”.
Marion Barry? Was he high on something tonight?
“Marion Barry? Was he high on something tonight?”
As opposed to what other nights?
What about Marion Barry?
Please tell me. If anything happens to him, I have a lot of Mexican Cartel stock I need to dump, tut suite!
Oh.
He was just stoned, as usual?
Well, then.
Excuse me. I must call my broker.
Now y’all leave the brotha alone! He did a lot of stuff for people back in the 70s!
No, it’s not part of a strategy.
Obama just isn’t that into the down and dirty of politickin’
Think back to the ObamaCare debate as it happened…he was notably absent from the back and forth, letting the Pelosi/Reid Congressional soviet to take the lead while he remained “above it all”…until the bug White House dog and pony show of utterly bogus bipartisan reconciliation.
Obama wants to twiddle his thumbs and then show up 5 minutes before deadline and claim the credit.
He doesn’t have that kind of crutch now, and it shows.
Obama’s performance tonight personified his 2012 campaign slogan: (Lean) Forward.
The Romney camp’s reply: You might feel a slight pinch …
PS: This just in from DNC …
“My name’s Barack Hussein Obama, and yes, I store my golf clubs in the bags under my eyes. For the people. Country. Kids. World. And such. Bend over. I mean lean Forward.”
Just a quick and minor correction. Mary Bono Mack represents California, Palm Springs actually, not Florida.
But was the president’s bland, dispassionate performance actually part of a campaign strategy?
Hope this “strategy” continues.
Will the Lame Stream EneMedia tell it like it was or will they wait for the USURPERS Election Campaign Committee’s spin to tell them what to say? I know what I think the answer is because we are already seeing the Obamunists supporters pathetic excuses starting some of which have even be propagated on here. The Lame Stream EneMedia has so much of their credibility invested in the USURPER that they cannot let him go.
Maybe this debate performance is part of his plan, like the plan to have smaller audiences at rallies.
Nah, it was the mark of a man that is incompetent, and sheltered being hit with the harsh realitiy that he is in over his head, and this unpatriotic failure, and economic dunce was taken to school and issues, and had nothing to say to defend , HAHAHAHAH, defend his position–like anyone could defend his failures.
Romney just filled Obama”s empty chair tonight.
The strong horse…
I believe they call this strategy a “Cihrryp loss”, where if you lose this badly again, you lose.
If you are seriously questioning if they threw the fight, ask yourself why take all the body blows? Throw the fight means you take a dive, not a suicidal drowning.
The election is likely over from here forward. The fake polls won’t be able to conceal it. And the beauty of it all is that the media enablers are wondering about their pure little motives tonight. What a pansy weak palsied effort their champion displayed. Eventually even they will figure out that this is really as good as he gets.
With Obama’s frail ego, the release of yesterday’s video showing how the true Obama would be reviled, he had no confidence today, and he’ll have even less tomorrow. The timing on that was brilliant, and its audience was Obama not us.
Ryan’s performance on the 11th will be a one-two knock out. No dives required.
This election is far from over. Wasn’t over when the Mainstream Media was writing Romney off, isn’t over now.
Romney needed to show himself to be smart, competent, composed and in control of the facts tonight. He also needed to show that he’s not afraid of Barack Obama, like John McCain was in ’08 (and as so many Republicans still are), and that he’s willing to fight for what he believes in.
Obviously, he more than accomplished all those things.
But with the media narrative about Romney’s sinking campaign, he also needed to avoid a debate performance that would allow the media to put the figurative nail in his coffin.
Obviously, he more than accomplished that as well.
So now Romney lives to fight on another day. But he’s got to keep fighting, because there’s still a lot of time to go, and in that time, you can bet the media and the Democrats will throw everything at Romney they can think of.
It’s still going to be a turnout election, rather than a wave election. Turn out more of your base than your opponent turns out of his, and you win.
Nobody is suggesting that the GOP no longer needs to fight tooth and nail, but the existing paradigm has shifted, most likely, to the right and the momentum is gaining steam. Absent a very controversial performance on some issue by Romney, Obama has hit his ceiling and is now on his way to his floor.
I’ll take bets on that wave election – want to know why? Independents. Overwhelmingly independents are breaking for Romney, and this late in the game we are seeing the undecideds break as undecideds do, not for the incumbent. Voting has begun in Ohio. Would you like people going to the polls with that debate performance if you were Obama?
It will be a wave election because of the blue states that are currently in play. WI, PA, NH, OR. State of the campaign is where they are going. Biden was in NC yesterday and beclowned himself. They sent him here because it is a lost cause already. Where is Obama going? WI tomorrow.
Over 300 EV. I stand by that prediction. We need to win by a large margin because the cheating will be fierce, and we will. The democrats are going to get a big bloody nose in 2012.
Just for grins, go to fox news website and look for presidential approval ratings and compare GWB favorability ratings with Obama’s. Stark difference. Obama hasn’t been over 50% except once this year and that was months ago. Bush’s stayed well above 50%. The graph is stunning in that GWB was a far more popular president than the man who calls himself Obama. RT/WT is nearly 2/1. Wave, baby.
This is kind of a restatement of my post on another thread: Only a small minority of the res publica watched the debate last night and most of them long ago made up their minds and were only watching to see how their champion fared. The lefties were thrown for a loop because they always find it inconceivable that a Republican troglodyte can put two words side by side. They were shocked and shaken.
In the cold light of day, the cold-blooded apparatchiks of the Soros Junta will send out their emails and arrange the appearances. Tonight on the 6PM news and on The View and the Steward and Daly shows over the next few days, the bulk of the electorate will see a very different debate from the one we saw last night. Don’t sell your gold and pack up your brass and lead yet.
Let’s see how the Kos Kiddies like this.
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1139570/47783298#c147
Bad link.
With all due respect to Bridget, I think an important point was missed. THIS was supposed to be THE debate in which Obama would hurt Romney. This was the debate that included ObamaCare, which once upon a time was supposed to be Romney’s great weakness. Remember that? Remember when nominating Romney would take ObamaCare off the table because of “RomneyCare?” Well tonight was supposed to be THAT night…and Romney decimated Obama out there. The Left wants to tell itself that Obama didn’t “fight.” Wrong. Obama TRIED to fight but was simply outmatched. Romney dominated the debate in a way that made both Obama AND his inside man, Jim Lehrer look weak and disoriented. That’s what happened tonight. The idea that this debacle for Obama was in any way “strategized” is beyond ridiculous!
Mitt Romney’s Big Bird remarks were the words of a manager laying someone off. And, dagnabbit, they sounded VERY good. A President needs to be able to do that, without hurting feelings any more than necessary.
Agreed. It was a very grown-up thing to say, although it was about a children’s character. When you’re in debt you usually have to choose between spending money on essentials and spending money on nice-to-haves. Rent, food, clothing, gas are essentials. Movies, iTunes, Chinese carry-out are nice-to-haves. Most people understand this and are capable of making the right decisions. Politicians usually aren’t, mainly because their careers depend on spending money, not saving it.
Anyway, in my view PBS funding is a “nice-to-have” expenditure, not an essential one. Sure, cut it back. When we’re flush again (if ever), we can restore funding. In the meantime, PBS can find a way to get by with less OR find new sources of income – which is what grownups do when they’re short of cash.
I thought Lehrer did an OK job, except the several times when Obama started to fumble his responses and Lehrer tried to feed him his lines.
It really was obvious, Mr. Obama was lost without his teleprompter.
I just loved watching the debate. It was everything I’d hoped for.
Mr. Lehrer allowed them to debate without a lot of needless interruptions, which was a pleasant difference.
Mr. Romney did himself proud. A grand slam!
George Romney would be very pleased.
“Has Obama ever been this off his game?”
Yes, like all the time when he has no teleprompter.
He was just live this time so the MSM couldn’t edit it to look cool.
Or…Teh Won is just a childish, buffoonish, affirmative action idiot and Romney is a genius.
‘Ya think?
Anyone who can’t tell the difference between them just by looking at them needs to be locked up for their own safety.
To Mitt Romney,
I luv ya but I have to ask a question: How is the structure of Social Security sound? Not for nothing, but in the very near future there will be more people collecting SS than contributing & they’re living longer too. Tweaking, no. Major overhaul, yes!
I will be voting for you. Yet I am uncomfortable when you tell everyone that you & Obama share much common ground on some issues. Please don’t do that anymore or are you slowly reeling in the independents?
Sincerely,
A very red republican from a very blue state.
Excellent question. Also I quibble with Mitt not saying he would devolve the Dept. of Education back to the states thus releiving us of a $90billion useless program. Or that he would cut EPA, Commerce, DOJ, HUD, Ag. so on and so forth. None of these departments are needed and do NOT meet the statndard Mitt said. And he needed to emphasize cutting the fed. workforce….
Romney did say he would send Dept of Education back to states. Shortly, thereafter he used the 90 Billion to failed green energy would hire 2 million teachers.
I dont think Obama wants to win this election… Stay with me here. We know that the economy is going to collapse no matter who is in the white house. Major changes are going to be needed and even those changes are going to cause short term problems. I dont think Obama wants to be in office when all of that goes down and I think he’s setting up a 2016 run. If Romney wins this election, Obama can come back in 2016 and say, “See, I told you he couldn’t do it” and win in a landslide victory. That is when elections will end and he will become dictator…
Obama’s narcissism will not tolerate defeat. If he loses, he will disintergrate. It will be a spectacular meltdown. I seriously doubt he would have any interest in running in 2016. His ego requires a much bigger venue; President of the World.
I don’t think Obama wants a 2nd term either but not for the reasons you cite. It’s obvious that Obama is lazy & habitually takes a lackluster approach to most everything he does, with the notable exception of being quite competitive with others on the golf course, the basketball court & at the bowling lanes. The manner in which Obama has handled the job as POTUS illustrates someone who is quite taxed by the obligations of the job. I think he is chomping at the bit to become citizen Obama, to jet off to his new, high-priced digs in Hawaii & spend the rest of his life on the speech circuit & goofing off.
You assume he would get the nomination in 2016. I very much doubt it. If he loses on Nov 6, he blew his chance, and will have a long retirement in HI. Someone else will be the 2016 Democratic standard bearer.
Do you really think the Democratic Party would let him run again in 2016 if he loses in 2012? Especially with Hilary apparently still very hungry to be President and every bit the same kind of Alinskyite Obama is? I’m sure they’d rather run the relatively-untainted Hilary Clinton than the damaged goods that Obama will be if he loses next month. With Hilary, they can be assured of being able to put forward the same policies as Obama has supported. And if Hilary decides not to run, I’m sure they can conjure up some other Far Left type to run in her place.
I kind of got the feeling that he really doesn’t want to win, too. As I noted earlier, I thought he looked utterly exhausted, almost to the point of being unwell. Romney, almost 15 years his senior (or is it 14? whatever) looked much healthier and fit, which is saying something-I think once you pass fifty, the decades really make a difference, more so than when you’re younger.
The reason why Obama did so poorly was because, for the first time in four years, SOMEBODY challenged him on his record and actually disagreed with him on policy. And Obama just didn’t have a defense for a failed policy. Romney did the job the mainstream media SHOULD HAVE been doing for the past four years now. Obama can’t defend failure and it showed.
Right on target, in spades! Oops……..
Disagree. The reason Zero did so badly is because in all his life, Zero has never been challenged to speak the truth. He has always been given his way…into college, law school, law review, state senator, US senator and now president. At each point, he was given what he sought; whether through affirmative action or because of sugar daddies like Alynski, Soros,some saudi shiek and other left-wing money and support cronies, Zero got his way.
He is not intelligent as the LSM says nor is he proud to be an American. On display was a poseur who speaks only what his handlers tell him to speak and when that does not work to fall back on prog talking points.
This was all exposed last night. Hopefully the 47% will understand this.
Obama’s obvious disdain for the entire debate explains the partisan gridlock in Congress. Like all narcissists, Obama cannot stand to have reality thrown in his face. He prefers being surrounded with fawning sycophants who parrot his every utterance a and reinforce the myth of the Obamessaiah. Like the MSM and the dingbat has-beens on The View, for example.
My impression is that The One went in anticipating that He would win by virtue of being Him.
As a side note, anyone who rehearses for a debate by doing it with John Kerry is either an idiot, wants to lose, or both. As he proved in 2004, Kerry could lose a debate with Elmer Fudd.
When it actually came down to it, Obama was apparently expecting a debate in which the moderator (Lehrer) would “control” the debate, and of course do it in his favor;
Unfortunately, Romney apparently came in expecting something of this sort, and wouldn’t play by the media’s rules. Witness Chris Mathews’ appalled reaction. He was shocked- shocked!- that Romney apparently came in intending to win, not just roll over and play dead in return for a pat on the head from The One.
Obama’s remark about “not being perfect” must have come as a hellish surprise to his worshipers. And even more so to himself. It was just part of a performance that would get you a D in a high school forensics (debate, not crime lab work) course. (Yes, the use of “forensics” for debating as well as my own field is one of my pet peeves.)
He showed that without a teleprompter, he has exactly two operational modes. He either stumbles, digresses, and somehow manages to forget what it was he was trying to say, or else (as in 2007, the “bitter clingers” speech, etc.) if he’s in front of a “friendly” audience, he feels free to cut loose in full-on rant mode, and indulge in his pet hatreds. Which he seems to have a comprehensive list of.
Neither one looks good in a President of the United States.
The debate last night was important, but not because Romney won. It was important because Obama did so badly that the news media had to admit, publicly, that Obama lost. Something which, I am sure, they’d rather have repeatedly crawled back and forth across broken glass, naked, than do. Because combined with the 2007 speech, it’s as much as admitting that they’ve played a massive con on the American people for four years, nonstop.
I don’t expect the media to stop playing Companions to Obama’s Alexander the Great, but we may be moving into the phase after Alexander got sick. That is, they may now be thinking about what to do after their god is no longer there.
Whatever happens, I don’t expect that to be pretty.
clear ether
eon
One thing is CERTAIN, Jim Lehrer is NEVER getting invited to another Liberal Elite party after not spinning the debate to cover for OFAIL.!
For the next week Candy Crowley will be receiving veiled and not-so-veiled threats to be forever banished to LiberalEliteOutcastIsland if she does not spin the next debate to cover for the Naked Emperor.
The media has been calling the tune for four or five years. Now it’s time to face the music. President Manilli has discovered that lip synching won’t work now.
Obama’s poor showing could be planned to give the impression: “Look at what this mean, rich coservative did to poor, lil’ ol’ me, please feel sorry for me”. Remember, liberals vote with their emotions, not with their brains.
Obama’s pyschological makeup would not allow him to play the victim. A wounded narcissist attacks.
This is attributed to Flyoverman 10/3/2012 11:3p on Michelle Malkin’s blog:
“Life comes down to moments. Romney has spent his a lifetime working hard, preparing unconsciously for this moment. He has read, studied and thrown himself into his work all his life.
Obama has taken the easy path. He lived off others, wrote no papers, sponsored no bills, others wrote his books. You cannot make up for all of the discipline and hard work Romney has engaged in his entire life by community organizing, playing golf, giving stump speeches and then cramming for three days.”
This debate reminded me of “The Grasshopper and the Ants”. As for Obama its not easy being green when you’re a grasshopper.
Clearly, the narcissist in chief should have taken the challenge more seriously. I suspect that given his work ethic, he and Kerry “trained” on the golf course or on Theresa’s yacht. There actually was a refreshing element of truth from the Odumbo handlers prior to the debate when they downplayed his coming performance. I so hope that Hair Plugs Joe is sweating bullets now because if you think this was bad for the administration, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
Obama had several self-imposed disadvantages going in.
First, as hard as Obama may try to channel his inner Bill Clinton, he’s no Bill Clinton, who, despite having been impeached and disbarred, is still popular, amazingly. Obama is trying desperately to connect himself to Clinton’s popularity. Clinton also had the advantage of a Republican Congress (from which he stole credit for every good thing that happened, i.e. the phantom ‘surpluses’ and welfare reform) for 6 years. Moreover, Clinton, having no principles, skillfully changes directions to whichever way the prevailing political winds are blowing. Obama’s leftward course hasn’t changed, likely won’t, and what’s even more likely is that he will steer even more leftward in the event he gets a second term.
Second, Obama was in a bit of a pickle in that he can’t state the truth, i.e. that he wants wealth redistribution, America to decline, and an ever-bigger government bureaucracy. At the same time, he must appease his leftist base, and that’s quite a trick (don’t try it at home, kids), particularly when you’re not that smart, and Obama isn’t (there’s a reason he won’t release his college transcripts). Bill Clinton, like a master magician, was and is quite capable of pulling off that trick beautifully, but again, referring back to #1, Obama’s not Clinton.
Third, without a scripted speech on a teleprompter and having to depend on his limited intellect, Obama verbally meanders incoherently and occasionally accidentally lets his true feelings come out (e.g. ‘gotta share the wealth’, ‘America is no longer a Christian nation’, “Mr. Medvedev, I’ll have more flexibility after the election’) and that was obvious last night, as he rambled on about evil corporations, Obamacare, etc. I’m still not convinced that Obama really understands how insurance works – he tried to explain some process where “if a patient’s coming in, let’s get all the doctors together at once, do one test instead of having the patient run around with 10 tests.” (Am I the only one who thinks something like that is logistically difficult and probably more expensive, particularly when a team of doctors would likely result in 20 tests rather than 10 or 1? Doctors have a hard enough time seeing their own patients as it is, much less trying to diagnose and treat other doctors’ patients as well.).
Fourth, since Obama has never really been challenged on anything by the media (save Univision), he falters when he does get challenged, his “facts” are questioned and he must explain his actions (e.g. why wasn’t security beefed up in Benghazi after repeated requests by the Embassy there; why does he continue to throw our tax dollars down rat holes to companies like Solyndra, Tesla, and GM,; why is unemployment still above 8% when you promised the stimulus funds would reduce it, etc.). In other words, having had very little practice, he’s not up to defending his indefensible actions.
Romney won the debate, and I’d give him an “A” but that’s grading on a curve since there are only 2 grades to give. Obama gets a C, and that’s being generous. However, on Obama’s performance as President, I’d give him an “F”.
You ask: “But was the president’s bland, dispassionate performance actually part of a campaign strategy?”
I certainly hope so. I think he should try to repeat his performance last night in the upcoming debates.
I think Lehrer did a good job with a tough assignment. Like a good ref he let the players play. We want to see the candidates in a more unstructured environment with a little more give and take. We see them all the time on the campaign trail in tightly controlled situations. Let’s face it, the presidential “debate” format as it’s usually practiced is little more than a joint news conference. I for one think Lehrer did a good job managing the debate.
The big winner, hands down, was the exceptional way of life in the United States of America. Last night’s event, in any country, from the Atlantic to the China Sea, would have resulted in a dead body in the back alley. What was crystal clear is two fundamentally different views on where the US needs to go, in order to crawl out of this horrible economic hole. The big loser was spin, in the media, and in the politically elite. They are just worthless, dumb.
Romney clearly won, but most of Obama’s supporters will not change. If you do not read, do not work, or do not know someone who has been out of work for two yeas, Obama did OK. Romney appeared Presidential, even more than the President. A similar, epic change occurred when Gen MacArthur, in open collar informal wear, was photographed, towering over the immaculate Japanese god, the Emperor. That photograph changed the world. This debate may be a step toward change.
Jim Lehner is taking heat from sore losers. He evenhandedly lost control to two mega egos. Obama spoke longer, but rambled.
The debate was valid, but not decisive.
Obama, went into the debate thinking he’d be facing the Scarecrow (A strawman with no brain) which he’s so well practiced in defeating.
He should have paid attention to his own ads, it’s the Tin Man who had no heart (as his ads have been accusing Mitt of.)
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, and all the Demoncrats lies won’t be able to put him back together again.
“therefore, at some point necessitating higher taxes on the middle calss”
Golda, that is an example of the Big Lie. There are an almost unlimited number of ways to avoid higher taxes. Ever hear the term “Tax loophole”? In the unlikely event of you making any serious money , you will.
Eliminate those loopholes and there will be no need to raise the tax rate.
A VAT in combination with a balanced budget amendment would allow the income tax to be killed once and for all. Without a BBA, the VAT becomes a license to steal, so there is not much chance of that, since it is the politicians that do most of the stealing.
There are many systems that could replace the current one but until the taxpayers get together nothing will change.
Back on topic, it will be amusing watching the 0bomination and his clown posse figuring out how to blame the debate performance on Bush.
Marion Barry? Not that corrupt DC Mayor Barry, is it?
Yes, and it sounds like he’s lost his crack pipe.
Romney needed a game-changing victory here. He needed decisive YouTube clips and sound bytes that could be played over and over again. He didn’t achieve any of those. You folks seem to forget that this is a war, and that the first debate is not even a battle, it’s merely an engagement; a skirmish. At the end of the day, Obama is still up by several points in the battleground states, and still has higher favorability ratings. The debate didn’t change that. If any of you actually believe that after months of stumbling, gaffes, flip-flops, failures and embarrassing videos that Romney has suddenly gained the upper hand in the election, you’re going to be in for a rude awakening come November 7.
I hope I remember your post on the morning of the 7th as we look upon president-elect Mitt Romney.
The debate was Obama’s “The emperor has no clothes” moment. For the first time in his lazy, ill spent, narcissistic life he was revealed as an inarticulate, badly educated, and not very bright nor very likable person. The media propaganda curtain was ripped asunder and the real Obama was revealed to the American people for the very first time. It has taken far too long and has nearly destroyed this country for this blinding moment of truth to shine across the land regarding this marxist interloper of a president.
Two words: VOTER FRAUD.
Memorize those two words and remember them the morning after the election.
Have a nice day.
Great job Romney. You proved Obama’s nothing without a teleprompter
The “BRAINLESS TWIT”, Al Gore, Duh, it was the Altitude that did it!!
Obama is an empty suit without a teleprompter and he fits well in the empty chair!
No teleprompter, he is on crack cocaine, valium zanax,
no way to be on top