It is hardly a secret that I am not a supporter of the Mitt Romney or of the current incarnation of the national Republican Party. That said my impression from watching the debate Wednesday night was that Romney had a good night and that Obama had a fairly bad one.
Romney, in Federation Commander, terms executed a perfect High Energy Turn, placed himself on a course for the middle of the electorate and began erratic maneuvering, reducing Obama’s incoming fire to shield-scorching inconsequential attacks.
I did note that Romney still avoided specifics like a vampire dodging the coming dawn, and he campaign is still one that seems reliant upon the idea that the economy is bad and therefore Obama should be tossed. It remains to be seen if this will be a winning strategy. As In noted a few posts ago, the wind had been at Obama’s back and Romney at that time was still playing to the right side of the field. In a week I’m going to take another good long look at the number from several sources and see just how much this has moved things in the Republican favor. (I don’t doubt that there will be movement, the question in my mind is how much. Less than 2 points leave the race close but unchanged, 2-3 points will be good for Romney, but not commanding, above 3 will be ahistorical and possible very bad for Obama.)
Personally I thought Obama had more facts on his side, he detailed more policy, and was less manipulative of the truth than Romney, but he looked tired, distracted, and unwilling to engage and in a battle of perceptions he clearly lost.
No man who loves his wife should have to work that hard on his wedding anniversary. If that does not say that Presdient Obama loves his country, then there is no argument that I can make that will convince you.
In order to gain my vote, Romney would have to convince me that his victory would not be “out of the frying pan, into the fire”. Not only has he not succeeded in doing so, he doesn’t appear to be trying to.
The point was not that Obama should run on a theme that the economy is good, clearly the economy is still quite weak and under dire threats. No, the point is that Romney hasn’t really pushed a positive Romney argument, his campaiogn is based on the precept that Obama is bad and that will be enough to win. Nearly all the arguments to vote for Romeney are simply counter Obama arguments.
“… and [Romney’s] campaign is still one that seems reliant upon the idea that the economy is bad and therefore Obama should be tossed.”
Dear President Obama, please please please, I double-dog dare you to campaign on the notion that the economy is good and therefore you should be reelected!
As much as Obama might believe this or desire to campaign on this idea (after all Obama has claimed before that the private sector is doing fine and the real unemployment problem is with the public sector!), cooler heads have apparently prevailed. Supposedly Frank Luntz tested that campaign theme with focus group analysis and the results were more negative than any other approach tested.