A Picture is Worth a Thousand Grimaces

Any further comment would just be rubbing salt in the wound — so let’s do that.

We’ve discussed before one of the most difficult things about unseating an incumbent president: He just looks so darned presidential. He has Air Force One, he has a custom Cadillac limo, he even has a marching band at his disposal. This johnny-come-lately trying to unseat him has none of that.

But look at that photo again. Does that man look presidential to you? Does he look like the most powerful man in the world? He’s not even the most powerful man on that little stage, even though the johnny-come-lately came without the jumbo jet or the phalanx of Marines.

But Mitt Romney did show up ready to be President. Obama showed up with — as — the Empty Chair. He stared at his feet. He grimaced. Occasionally a smile would flash on his face, with all the spontaneity of Bush 41’s “Message: I Care.” He was whiny, he was defensive. Worst of all? Empty Chair’s body language didn’t just show contempt for Romney. He displayed contempt for the setting, for the requirement that he be there, and I think it even showed contempt for the office he (still) holds.

Barack Obama is tired of being President. I’m not sure he ever enjoyed it. That is what he brought to the debate last night, and that is why he lost.