Romney won the third presidential debate – and how he did it was encapsulated in a single exchange. The candidates were discussing military spending and Romney had just accused Obama of making harmful cutbacks. The President wheeled out what must have seemed like a great, pre-planned zinger: “I think Governor Romney maybe hasn’t spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military’s changed.” The audience laughed, Obama laughed, I laughed. It was funny.
But here’s why it was also a vote loser. For a start, Twitter immediately lit up with examples of how the US Army does still use horses and bayonets (horses were used during the invasion of Afghanistan). More importantly, this was one example of many in which the President insulted, patronised and mocked his opponent rather than put across a constructive argument. His performance was rude and unpresidential. Obama seemed to have a touch of the Bidens, wriggling about in his chair, waving his hands dismissively and always – always – smirking in Romney’s direction. By contrast, Romney sucked up the abuse and retained a rigid poker face all night. He looked like a Commander in Chief; Obama looked like a lawyer. Who would you rather vote for?
Aside from the horses and bayonets moment, this was essentially a debate without incident. Part of the fault was the format. It’s interesting to note that Romney won the first debate while standing up and Obama did better in the second when walking around. But when both men were forced to sit for 90 minutes, the energy was inevitably reduced and neither broke through the fourth wall convincingly. Romney had a slight edge because he didn’t use his hands so much: Obama blew his closing statements by developing ultra-energetic conjurer’s hands (“Look at the hands, not at the cards, look at the hands…”)
But the bigger problem was that they agreed on the essentials, which were all about foreign policy. Romney refused to tackle Obama directly on Libya (I shouted at the TV that he should, but he just wouldn’t listen) and Fast and Furious seems to have been forgotten by the GOP. In everything else, Obama has become so homicidally neoconservative and Romney so desperately peaceful that they’ve met in the middle on most issues. Both would defend Israel in the event of an attack, both want out of Afghanistan in 2014 and neither would let Iran get the bomb. If you want a real debate on foreign policy, you’re just going to have to wait until Rand Paul gets the nomination in 2020. At times this felt almost as boring as that Gingrich v Huntsman debate that I and about 4 other people watched during the primaries. Romney tried his darnedest to bring everything back to the economy and Obama seemed to say in every answer, “So what we need to do in the Middle East is talk more about how rubbish my opponent is.” It’s almost lucky that Obama isn’t running unopposed in this election because then he’d have nothing to run on at all.
Read More at The Telegraph . By Tim Stanley.
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore (Creative Commons)
Please share this post with your friends and comment below. If you haven’t already, take a moment to sign up for our free newsletter above and friend us on Twitter and Facebook to get real time updates.
Follow @WestJournalism
Loading ...
Good article, Romney missed a number of great opportunities to complete a devastating “Kill Shot”, then again, I guess it is not his style. Obama said among many other untruths such as “America is much better off now that it was when he took office.” Sure, what about the 6 trillion dollar debt, what about the $80 billion he gave to his buddies. The list of his crimes goes on and on and on, he needs to go and the sooner the better.
I heard someone say their boss told him that when this was over, all those with an Obama pin or bumper sticker on their car would be the first to be laid off.
Romney was a great debater allowing the opposition to hang themselves because they cannot shut up, get nasty (snarky) and childish. A good ploy, thank you. I was a debater and I saw what Romney was accomplishing – O doesn’t have a clue about government, military, debt, or the little people. He is just a nasty slumbag!
a note to u anti-americans and why it is important to vote for obama
I will be voting for Obama this year, as i did in 2008.
Here’s why:
1. Obama is the first president in U.S. history to acknowledge the right of gay couples to marry and enjoy the full benefits of marriage in the eyes of the law.
2. President Obama faced down the GOP and the health industry to finally reform American healthcare. My healthcare is better and cheaper.
3. Obama has fully funded the Violence Against Women Act.
4. Obama is the first President in a generation to make a car go farther on a gallon of gas.
5. Two brilliant Supreme Court appointments, and more on the way.
6. Obama cares about women’s health and he proved it again and again.
7. Obama has made financing higher education easier.
8. President Obama promotes an openness that his opponent hopes to quash.
9. Republicans seek to have America run by and for a permanent aristocracy. Let’s not forget that liberals founded this country–the conservatives supported the king!
10. Obama demonstrated prudent and effective leadership in helping bring about the fall of Muammar Gadhafi.
11. Obama has supported and cultivated the rights of Americans with disabilities.
12. President Obama supports women’s right to choose.
13. Romney wants to nullify the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
14. Because corporations are not people. People are better.
15. Barack Obama supports equal pay for equal work.
16. Because the Republican Party is pre-Galilean.
17. President Obama supports the DREAM act.
18. Obama repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
19. Mitt Romney plans to remove regulations on air and water quality and cut off funding for the National Labor Relations Board.
20. Romney is hiding millions in tax havens around the world.
21. Obama signed legislation to protect consumers from the predatory lending practices of credit card companies.
22. Obama is on the right side of land use and transportation policy.
23. If Mitt Romney is elected, insurance companies will continue to discriminate against Americans with pre-existing conditions.
24. Barack Obama understands the threat of climate change.
25. Obama increased funding for National Parks by ten percent.
26. It is absolutely the role of government to invest in education and jobs.
27. President Obama ended stop-loss
28. I support Obama because, despite enormous pressure, he refused to publicize a picture of Bin Laden’s corpse.
29. Barack Obama supports Planned Parenthood while Mitt Romney would destroy it.
30. Because Obama opposes the Supreme Court’s Citizens United Decision.
31. Obama signed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act, a bipartisan bill that brings greater accountability to American defense spending.
32. President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.