Coming Out Swinging

The President did well in the third debate. Romney did o.k., which is important. He didn’t fall over when he was pushed, but Obama was fairly effective in rebutting claims and pushing on Mittens’ policies and campaigning. My favourite line has to be the “horses and bayonets”.

But zingers don’t win debates and debates aren’t themselves what win elections. Where Obama has not done well is two-fold: attacking R-money, as the President has done over the entire campaign, is not the same as having policies, and if he’s got them, they’re the weak point Willard consistently points to, that they are four more years.

The last four years have no doubt been hard on America, as they have been elsewhere (and I am thankful for Australia’s currently robust economy and hope for more of the same or better; not that I’m likely to get either, at least not for long). There has been nothing dramatic to change people’s perceptions, even with 5 million “new” jobs and an overall decrease in unemployment, a decrease that appears to have resulted in treading water economically.

Obama has done well: Don’t Ask is gone, universal health care is closer than it’s ever been, we’re (mostly) out of Iraq and on our way out of Afghanistan. Killing people, even Osama bin Laden, whether with ground troops or the increased use of drone strikes, is not something I think is worthy of credit. Bailing out the automobile industry is.

People go on and on about deficits. They look at Greece and Spain and say: not us, thanks. But they don’t see that the austerity measures such as those proposed by Romney-Ryan are a significant part of how those countries got there. They look at Britain and see bipartisan austerity without recognising the cost it’s had to the society. Romney says that government doesn’t create jobs and that it shouldn’t be in the business of investing in businesses as if that was the same as investing in research and development. But business is where research and development needs to be conducted right now, because that creates jobs. It’s also a way to increase businesses starting up in the U.S. and creating jobs. The U.S. government has, in the past, directly created jobs, and it can do so again, investing in infrastructure development and long-needed upgrades and repairs. Deficits don’t matter. They can be reversed and they can be written down. Austerity has long since been proven a poor way to restore a nation’s economy. And let’s not let people like Mr. 1% get away with comparing Obama’s path to that of Greece. Greece has got a serious problem with tax avoidance, something R-money knows well and knows from first-hand experience.

Obama gets two out of three debates, but in the next two weeks he can still lose the election, and it’s his to lose. Unfortunately it’s too late to point to websites, and it’s too late to put up policies. We have to want four more years more than they want the next eight.

Round 2
I missed Biden vs. Ryan, although I have enjoyed some of the commentary I caught up with.  Seems Joe did a good job roasting the Congressman.  But, now back in town, I caught up with Democrats Abroad Australia for a public viewing of the 2nd Presidential debate on CNN.  This time I'll give the win to Obama.

The President was on-message, and engaged Romney - and Romney's policies - well.  He didn't let Mittens get away with lies, which was good.  The moderator was also effective, to a point, in keeping both candidates to the format, stopping R-money when he tried to get the last word, although Obama was the more likely to back off.  Romney kept up his usual me-me-me schtick, interrupting, going off the asked question.

But Romney was still effective.  He's got a kind of charisma, so even if his 5-point plan (really?) is basically "trust me, I've been a Governor and have worked as a consultant" he comes across well.

Obama got in a few good zingers, but he also sounded petulant at times, not a good look for an incumbent President, especially in his appeals to the moderator to moderate more.  He's also given to starting sentences with "look", and that's a bad way to start any appeal.

There was an article last week in the NY'er about billionaire resentment against Obama, and as much as I think such attitudes are unbecoming at best among the super-rich, Obama wasn't winning any friends among them today.  I suppose it hardly matters at this point, with only a few weeks left in the campaign, but he still needs Wall Street money and Romney needs less.  I haven't read much about the ads or the effect the Super PACs are having, though.  I guess I could see the ads on YouTube, but I don't see much point in giving myself blood pressure problems.

But a win's a win, and I'll take it.  If Barry can keep it up for one more session, I think he'll roll on in come the first Tuesday in November.

Winners & Losers
I hate to say this, but I think Romney won the first debate.  He was good, very good, although mostly he was good at always getting the last word, and that counts for a lot.  But Obama was bad - not very bad, but bad enough.  He looked tired.  He didn't manage to rebut Romney even when Mittens was obviously lying.  The 5 trillion dollar tax cut that doesn't add to the deficit? Yes, it's basic arithmetic that tells us that's a lie, but Obama failed to make that point decisively, memorably.  He didn't rebut the obvious "death panels" references and he didn't manage to make a case in favor of Federal health care insurance vs. State-based, and that's a point that really needed to be made.

Worse, Obama looked tired and offered a lot of passive-aggressive bullshit.  The whole "if that's what you believe/want then he's your candidate" business just made him look like Gore.  I liked that he tried to claim "Obamacare", but he did a bad job of it, half-assed, really.

A lot of criticism of Obama has been that he's only as good as his teleprompter.  He looked it today.  He hemmed, he hawed, he "you know"'d too much.  Starting a sentence with "you know" or "look" is just bad form, it puts people off, makes them feel stupid.  Romney didn't do any of that, or didn't seem to.  He's a prep school debate pro, and he romped over Obama.  Putting up with a bully doesn't make you a paragon of virtue, it makes you a victim, especially in politics.

I want Obama to win.  I'd like to believe he will.  But he's going to have to step up his act in debates 2 & 3 if it's going to happen, all those solid blue States notwithstanding.

I'll probably miss Biden vs. Ryan, as much as I'd like to see it.  I'll be away on holiday, but if the opportunity arises, 90 minutes of ol' foot-in-his-mouth against the GOP's architect of nothing might actually be entertaining.  I hope.