Presidential Debate Comments

I just saw on CNN that they picked Obama as the winner, but not by much.

 

The Big News

Many are pointing out that the moderator and Romney were wrong on the garden statement about terrorism.

However, that is not the news. The news is that Obama conceded that is exactly what he meant and the moderator was going to his defense. This is huge news!

He is admitting he recognized it as an act of terror in the white house garden but then sent his white house spokesman out twice to deny it was an act of terror, sent the UN Ambassordor out five times to deny it was an act of terror. He went out and refused to admit was an act of terror three more times.

 

CNN and CBS gave Romney a big win on the economy. CBS gave Obama a win 37 to 30 with 33 a tie. I think Romney won overall, big on the economy but missed great opportunity on Libya. Next week is foreign policy so he can hit Obama big time.

 

I believe they both did well and played to their strengths.

Obama's strength is that he still could not defend his record , so he didn't try. He also demands Romney state specifics for his plans for the future, but continues to offer none of his own.

Because of this , my sense is that Obama played defense most of the time and the look of utter terror on his face when the questions turned to Benghazi was priceless.

He also lied and Crowley has admitted she helped him do it. Accidently? You decide.

 

I listened to the debate this morning via the Internet. As I could not see the two I can not judge anything from their body language. However, it seemed to me that Romney simply said over and over his overused line of I have a plan, trust me. I know how to create jobs, trust me. I will help the middle class, trust me. I am slow to trust those who speak from both sides of their mouth on every issue but never give specifics. Obama was better on specifics. However both could do better in this area, but politicians are not great on taking hard, specific stands.

I must say several photos I saw of Romney made me think he was very unhappy. He looked extremely angry ... at being caught I guess. The photos made the following statement appear credible:

 

It was a good debate, and much closer than last time. I believe Romney came out on top. Romney emphasized that Obama is full of talk, especially on immigration. He had full control of government, but did not even put forward a bill on this issue, though he had promised to address it in his first year.

It seemed to me that the moderator was helping Obama quite a bit, refusing to let Romney respond to remarks Obama made against him several times. I did not quite understand the rules, but it definitely appeared she was favoring Obama to me.

I did not like when Romney had that one personal encounter with Obama. That was Romney's weakest moment in my opinion. I can't quite remember the question now, but he was handing control to Obama (bad tactic) and it made Romney appear a little too aggressive. I think it has been to Romney and Ryan's advantage that they have been gentlemen in the debates, they should try to maintain this image.

Obama did better, but he came across as having a old message that did not work, and will not work. I think Romney offers a better message that appeals to folks.

 

Romney should have pressed on Fast and Furious.

 

This is the first debate I watched in its entirety. IMO, the election is now a sealed deal. I agree with your above statement, and all of Rev Mitchell's. Aside from substance lacking on Obama's part, he was rude, arrogant and very unPresidential.

I go into the voting booth fully aware of all the flaws of Romney, and if he flips again on abortion and gay rights, he will be held accountable in 2016, including the nomination. If I had one criticism of Romney, it would be the use of the phrase, "I have a plan." It sounds like so many other politicians in the past. He could have said "I have the leadership ability and experience to make this a better nation."

 

One person's opinion:

 

I would give Obama perhaps a slight edge in last night's debate. Candy clearly was trying to help O out, though, not letting Mitt follow up at times, and coming to his rescue on the Libya issue (which Mitt kinda stammered through anyway).

I thought both Mitt and Obama were rude at times talking over each other. Mitt looked weak, IMO, whenever he would respond to a questioner by trying to continue answering a previous questioner, and when he kept repeating stuff like "Have you looked at your pension?".

Mitt was at his best when he answered that one guy's question (who had asked O why he thought he had earned his vote for a 2nd term) by rehearsing the failures of O's past 4 years, particularly pointing out how O promised to cut the deficit in half but instead caused it to substantially worsen.

The bottom line is I don't think I could trust either of the two men as far as I could throw them. With either, we'll continue to run up ginormous deficits and continue to meddle in all corners of the world. I don't have much 'HOPE' for significant 'CHANGE' with EITHER of the two Republicrats running for POTUS.

 

Whereas Obama said he had a "comprehensive plan" for everything. Assault weapons? Gotta have a "comprehensive plan" that hires more teachers so that more inner city youth have more opportunities to stay in school. Energy? Gotta have a "comprehensive plan" that includes wind, solar, bio, so that we can create high paying, high tech jobs, so that we can be the manufacturing leaders in 100 years. <Gag me>

I noticed that Romney had a quick, 1,2,3 answer for most every question, whereas Obama promised to "work hard", "fight for the middle class", "do my best", etc. In other words the old tired out liberal mantra that says good intentions are good enough. You don't have to have a plan or show results, just try hard.

 

I thought Romney won the debate by a whisker because he kept on reminding voters of Obama's economic record, a dismal failure. Coupled with his assertion that he knows how to create jobs he came off as the candidate that could get the economy going again. "Four more years of Obama, we know what we're going to get" is very powerful.

Obama accomplished a lot to slow, maybe halt, the downward slide he was on. He appeared engaged, forceful (almost too forceful) and sympathetic.