Listening to the analysis of the debate this morning on NPR, it is clear Mitt Romney has a huge advantage--when reality does not comport with what he is saying, he simply denies it; when the numbers don't add up, he simply invents new ones.
His basic tenet, which he aggressively presents, so confidently, it must be true, is that all he needs to do to "jump start" and "grow" the economy is cut taxes, unleash the horses of economic vitality and all will be well.
What we'd like to hear from Mr. Obama is fewer numbers and more philosophy. He's called this Republican mantra "trickle down pixie dust," and correctly says it's exactly what got us into this mess in the first place--the idea that all you have to do is cut taxes and walk away and the economy will take care of itself. Just take the government off the back of the markets and they will produce.
Mr. Romney is also the master of disavowal. He's not against regulations. You need regulations for a free economy to work, he says. First I've heard him acknowledge this, but what he then does is to leap to the "but the regulations Mr. Obama and the Democrats like are all wrong." And he goes to the Dodd Frank law which makes too big to fail banks even bigger he says. That's a damaging charge, and Mr. Obama failed to respond. He could have said, "I don't like too-big-to-fail-banks any more than Mr. Romney, but I had to take the good with the bad to get a law which would start the process."
Hopefully, Mr. Obama will, in the ensuing days, come back with a flurry and pick up on the 5 trillion dollars Mr. Romney says he'll find by "closing loopholes." Don't we all love a candidate who promises to close the loopholes?
And how did Jim Lehrer allow Mr. Romney to not answer the question of whether or not he is for Coupon Care, or Voucher Care?
Mr. Lehrer is showed his 78 years. He was meek and allowed Romney to evade every hard question and to walk all over him. Fortunately, Mr. Lehrer is not running for President. Mr. Obama did better than Mr. Lehrer, but next time around he would help us all if he unleashed a few memorable zingers. This is not a debate before the Law Review. This is a debate in front of the unwashed millions. (Or hundreds of thousands. How many actually watched?)
It did not change Mad Dog's mind. Did it change yours?
Mad Dog,
ReplyDeleteMaybe with a pistol pressed to my temple I could look favorably on the "new and improved" Mitt. Unfortunately I think there may be other viewers who could be more easily persuaded. Yesterday they were saying they expected a record number of debate watchers--millions-hopefully that was just hype.
Between the two of us you obviously had the more accurate take prior to the debate.Truth be told, I really wasn't that concerned--I really thought our silver tongued President would slay the Robot in the first round. So where did this new Mitt come from? I know he wasn't that bad in the primary debates,sometimes fairly good, but look what his competition was--Michelle B. and the pizza man. Last night the new Mitt was not only able to spout all new material,he was able to deliver it in a forceful, convincing manner,like an actual human. Who cares if all the new stuff is false if it's delivered well....(I'm starting to suspect a body double--you know, Prince and the Pauper..)
Like you I was doing a lot of talking back to my TV. Since when did Mitt become the champion of the middle class? I kept waiting for the President to pounce on that as well, but he wasn't up for any pouncing last night. Maybe it was because he was in the dog house for spending his wedding anniversary at the debate. When he mentioned his anniversary at the start Romney said the first genuinely funny thing I've ever heard cross his lips "I'm sure this is the most romantic place you could imagine here with me". I should have known then--imposter.
Well we live to fight another day, right Mad Dog..
Maud
Maud,
ReplyDeleteI take some comfort that nobody in my office mentioned the debate all day. I presume nobody watched.
--Mad Dog
Never thought I'd be thinking apathy was a good thing--but I see your point. Have you seen any of the stuff on the internet about Big Bird--some of them are really good..
ReplyDeleteMaud
Maud,
ReplyDeleteI'll look. I decided the blogosphere reaction to the debate would be mostly political junkies. What everyone thinks about is the people whose minds might be changed by the debates. I'm not sure there are really many truly undecideds left.
Mad Dog