The Debates

[Okiebug61]

Obama may have not looked good but I'm taking the high road on this one. Romney spewed so much bs that now he has nowhere to go but down. We get to vote 30 days from tomorrow and I am going to believe that the real Amerian People will know what to do. :-)

[Martina]

From Politico:

Nobody had to tell President Barack Obama he had whiffed when he walked off the stage in Denver Wednesday night — nor was he in the mood for a lot of advice.

“You could tell he was pissed,” said a person close to the president, “But it wasn’t like the end of the world. It was like, ‘That wasn’t good. The next one has to better.’ No apologies. No hand-wringing.”

That night, after a brief, terse chat with his advisers backstage at the University of Denver arena — “He had real clarity about what had happened,” one of them told POLITICO with a chuckle — Obama hopped in his limo, “The Beast,” and sped off to a nearby DoubleTree with wife Michelle.

He had had enough of politics for the night.
. . . .

At first, Obama didn’t think his performance was a complete disaster. But he began Thursday morning by watching excerpts of his own performance and was especially struck by his own tentative, grim demeanor — especially when he and a more relaxed Mitt Romney were broadcast in split-screen. It was worse than he thought, according to one person close to the situation. He was subdued but positive on a conference call with staff.
. . . .

Hours after arguably the worst debate performance of his career, Obama charged that Romney is a different man than the guy he faced Wednesday. But it was the president who seemed to be a totally different guy on Thursday. Gone was the distracted, deer-in-headlights mumbler. In his place, suddenly, was someone doing a pretty good impersonation of Obama ’08.

His mood was radically different Thursday — not just calm but buoyant, loose, focused. It reminded several aides close to the president of his response to Hillary Clinton’s stunning comeback win in the New Hampshire primary in 2008. It’s a cliché in his camp that Obama only feels really motivated when his own destruction is in sight, but the magnitude of his lousy performance clearly motivated him as he plunged back into campaigning.
. . . .
With Obama, it’s not just about will — it’s always about mood, too. For all that’s been written about his flop in front of roughly 67 million viewers, the reality, according to the people who know him best, is that he just wasn’t in the right headspace. The president had too many conflicting thoughts bouncing around his head and could never quite reconcile his desire to attack Romney with his fear of alienating voters by appearing angry or unpresidential. The result was a muddle that has given Romney new life.

Obama had always planned to play it pretty safe, but his advisers expected him to be more aggressive, peppering Romney with requests for specifics on his deficit and tax plans. They also figured on him smiling a whole lot more, a key part of winning the body-language battle.

And, to the puzzlement of Democrats, he didn’t mention two of the most effective attack lines — Bain Capital and Romney’s “47 percent” video.

On Thursday, Plouffe told reporters on Air Force One that the omissions weren’t deliberate.
. . . .

“Thank God somebody is finally getting tough on Big Bird,” he said. “We didn’t know that Big Bird was driving the federal deficit. … Elmo, too?” But it wasn’t the joke that struck a top Obama adviser watching from stage right, it was the way the boss was gripping the lectern — left hand grabbing the front, right hand in his pocket.

“Look,” the person said, “That’s what he does when he’s really into it.”
. . . .

“It’s not a positive by any means,” an Obama aide said. “But for our supporters, the debate was sort of helpful because they have assumed the race was locked up. It isn’t. But that message hasn’t been getting through. This might scare them.”

[Martina]

I know he's human and entitled to preferences (doesn't love campaigning) and moods, but, as I am sure he is aware of, a lot depends on his re-election, and as others have pointed out, his supporters are working their hearts out. Preferences and moods are just not relevant for the next thirty-two days.

-- still annoyed

[Martina]

Another article about the Obama performance.

Anyway, enough chewing over this (for me), but it is an interesting article.

“The reason I hate campaigns,” Edley continued, “is that being right on the substance isn’t good enough. That’s why I’m an academic. Of course, Obama knows that, but it’s also a question of what he cares about. I admire him for caring more about the substance than the tactics even if it makes me grimace when I watch him. Why does he do it? Look, we all do things in the short term that are not consistent with a long-term goal, whether it’s failing to save for retirement or watching TV instead of doing your homework. It’s called being human rather than being the ideal client of your handlers. It makes it harder to achieve his goal, which is to get reëlected. But if you wanted authenticity you got it [on Wednesday] night. And, really, you got it in an unsurprising way. We know that Obama skews cerebral and that he has never liked debates as a way to engage issues. He has said that many times.”

With Romney working his ass off, I don't care about Obama's preferences. His acceptance speech at the Convention was lackluster too.

I also read that Obama has had fewer press conferences than any President in recent times and many fewer impromptu Q&A sessions. I recall us bitching about how few W. had, how he would duck the press. Obama has done soft interviews on shows like "The View." I am totally not impressed with any President -- or any politician -- who does not frequently answer un-vetted questions from the serious press. Obama is criticizing Romney for elitism. Sorry, but staying above the fray like an academic and refusing to take on the rough and tumble of a White House press conference -- that's pretty elitist.

I am honked off with the big man.

[JustJo]

The President certainly wasn't at his best in the first debate, even he knows that, but I don't think it's a problem at all.

Romney spewed so much bs, and the fact-checkers have been having a party ever since, that all he's actually accomplished is to play out plenty of rope for Obama to hang him with.

Pathological liars, and sorry but I do believe Romney is one, lie so frequently and so often that eventually they can't even keep their own lies straight. He's shown us what he really thinks when he believes he's only with his rich, white cohorts in that 47% video. I don't care what he says about it afterwards....that kind of crap sticks in the backs of people's minds and gnaws.

For me, for the first time in my life, I'm voting straight Democratic ticket. Period.

[Martina]

Originally Posted by JustJo

The President certainly wasn't at his best in the first debate, even he knows that, but I don't think it's a problem at all.. . .

For me, for the first time in my life, I'm voting straight Democratic ticket. Period.

It's not affecting my vote. But I wondered what happened and wasn't pleased with what I learned.

They only have eight years in the job at the most. They can sleep when they're out of office. I know they need to recharge, etc. But I am not impressed. Or with the press conference infrequency. I am going to vote for the man, but I hope that Michelle or someone kicked his ass.

I understand that Eisenhower was depressed. We all know that W. slept half his life away. But, unless you ARE depressed -- and then, get treatment -- it's not too much to expect full engagement at the BIG events. Good god. No damned excuse for phoning it in. I do wonder if his speech writers/prep staff are partly to blame. I don't know. But he wasn't on fire for the Democratic Convention either. Get over it. There's just a little bit at stake here.

[Medusa]

Biden is in full bulldog mode and is burning this motherfucker up right now.

Y'all watching?

[BullDog]

I thought President Obama would play it conservative but also expected him to do much better than he did. It makes me nervous because of the high stakes of the election, as Martina said. He seems to be back on track, at least on his stump speeches. There may be some people who tuned in and got what they needed from Romney to decide to vote for him, but is it enough to win the election for him? I don't think so, but yes it makes me nervous.

Romney lied through his teeth and yep I think he got short-term gain out of it, but the lies will come back to bite him.

I am also wondering about the Big Bird effect. The conservatives have been trying to get rid of public television since the days of Nixon. I think that was Romney throwing the far right a bone. But it isn't going to play too well with parents and others who care about children. I have read in several places that where his 47% remarks hurt him the most in swing states was among working class/lower income women. I think his Big Bird remarks just reinforces how out of touch he is and doesn't understand regular people.

The conservative meltdown over the unemployment rate yesterday was fun to watch. Seriously, how the Republican party has any shred of credibility left is beyond me. Mitt now says what he said about the 47% was completely wrong. Yeah 17 days after the tape is released the new Moderate Mitt admits he was wrong. Ho hum. Anyway, I am not seeing much out of the Romney camp following the debate that shows further momentum to me. I will be watching the polls that come out next week.

I don't know if it will have a lot of impact on the election, but I am looking forward to the Biden-Ryan debate. I don't think Biden will let Ryan hide from his budget or continue to give lame excuses why he can't give details on the Romney tax plan because he doesn't have time or the math is too complicated or that people will be bored. It should be interesting. Biden does make gaffes from time to time, but he knows his stuff and is extremely loyal to the President. I am not so sure Ryan is that loyal to Romney. He is young and hoping for a long successful career. His views are quite extreme, and I don't know if he is as good at dancing around the issues and flat out lying the way Romney is.

[Martina]

Originally Posted by BullDog

I have read in several places that where his 47% remarks hurt him the most in swing states was among working class/lower income women.

So far the debates haven't given Romney much of a bump in the polls except on the specific issue of caring about the middle class. He got a huge bump on that issue.

Totally agree re Big Bird and interesting point re Ryan's loyalty. I am looking forward to Biden on fire. Even if he fumbles a time or two, he's going to be FUN to watch.