I will be the first to admit that I don't see the subtleties that the political pundits see when I watch a speech or debate. As soon as tonight's debate ended, the verdict on all three cable networks was that Romney clearly won.
Going in, I was hoping that Romney would be aggressive and attack. That is what he did. There were times I thought he had the President on defense. The President, indeed, did not seem to be enjoying himself. At times, he seemed to be annoyed or smiling sarcastically at Michelle or someone as Romney spoke.
What bothered me was that Romney often overrode the moderator. I counted 5 times. I thought Jim Lehrer lost control (to Romney).
So as it ended, my feeling was that Romney did what he had to do. He proved Obama's equal. He was on top of the issues, and he got in his attacks on Obama. Other than that, I didn't have the feeling that it was a clear win.
But what do I know?
Even the mad-hatters at at MSNBC were....mad. Madder than a Cub fan in October. They all said that Romney had dominated the debate.
I'll stop there lest I start repeating comments made by the pundits. That was my perception, and that is the perception of the pundits.
Sometimes Gary surprises me, just as sometimes I suprise him. I expected him to join in the rabid chorus that Romney stomped on Obama. I thought that was the hybrid product of Romney fans thirsting for anything to construe as an uptick for their side, and the usual liberal masochism.
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed by both candidates, but I thought Romney came across manic or hyper, had little substance, pulled numbers out of thin air, and ended up promising that all the good things Obama had done, he would continue, so don't worry about losing them.
Obama, probably advised to play safe and do nothing risky, offered no substance to speak of either. But he probably expected Romney to continue saying the things he's been saying for the past six months, not come out as a brand new liberal.
What do you and I know? A lot more than the pundits do. I suspect how people vote will have little to do with what either MSNBC or Fox News have to say. I'm tired of 75 percent of our news consisting of well-paid talking heads telling us what we think and how we responded or reacted, rather than providing factual accounts of events so we can make up our own minds.