The Final Debate

We had the third and final debate between President Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney.  Of course, the majority of the MSM outlets declared Obama the winner before the debate was even over.  Regardless of whom you thought won, Romney came across more Presidential and relaxed.  Obama came across more as the challenger and not an incumbent President.  Both men made good points in Monday's final Presidential Debate.  I liked how Romney zinged Obama with his comment on the "Middle East "Apology Tour."   This was in reference to Obama's apologizing for the policies of the USA in past years.  Of course, Obama now denies he ever did this.  That's fine if he wants to do that. But, President Obama can not walk away from the Benghazi Attack that cost the lives of our Libyan Ambassador and three other Americans.  Much has been made of the differing stories of the Obama Administration over this being due to a video or a terrorist attack.  Much has been made of the denial of added security for the embassy.  Obama is "all over the map" (to use one of the President's quaint terms) in defending his administration's handling of this matter.  I do believe Romney did not press Obama hard enough on this issue.  Obama has yet to explain why his administration denied Ambassador Steven's request for additional security.  We have yet to see an adequate explanation.

This debate produced nothing new and President Obama's continued defense of his record on foreign policy ("I killed Osama bin Laden") is rather shallow when you take into account that four Americans are dead at a U.S. Embassy in Libya.  Also, dead are Brian Terry, a Border Patrol Agent, due to gun running in the "Fast and Furious" scandal.  Say what you will about Watergate, there were no deaths due to the coverup of that scandal.  This is still a very tight election.  This is the most important election in U.S. history.  Do we go back to being Americans under Romney, where Capitalism is the driving force of our economy?  Or do we continue toward Socialism under President Obama?  In either case, this election will be a nail-biter to the very end.

Second Debate: Obama's Waterloo?

[This post is being written on Monday, October 15, 2012]

How did it all go so wrong?  Obama was (supposedly) surging to as much as a nine point lead in national polls after the Democratic National Convention.  He was far a head in the battleground states such as Ohio.  Obama had a double digit lead in some polls.  In Florida, he was leading by as much as five points in various polls.  Republicans were screaming at Mitt Romney to change up his campaign, especially the campaign leaders.  Many were starting to question Romney's Vice-Presidential choice.  In short, President Obama appeared to have smooth sailing toward the Presidential Election.  But, then the first Presidential Debate took place.  It was an unmitigated disaster for Obama.  I have been around a long time.  The first Presidential Debate I can remember was the Nixon-Kennedy debate.  I was a child then and it was something special for us to see on TV back in those days.  I've seen a lot of debates.  But, none were as one-sided as two weeks ago between President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney.  As a result, it gave a historic poll shift to Romney.  Romney is leading President Obama anywhere from 2-4% nationally.  But, where the President is really hurting is in the battleground states such as Ohio, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina. There has been movement in virtually all demographics.

The Second Presidential Debate, to be held at Hofstra University, will be more of a town hall debate where audience members ask the presidential contenders questions.  The moderator, Candy Crowley, will supposedly moderate unbiased.  Neither campaign is happy with her.  But, the important thing for Obama is to come out with something resembling fire and enthusiasm.  His lackluster performance in the first debate was the reason his campaign is rattled to its core right now.  President Obama has to show the American people he has a plan to get the economy going and not slogans this time.  He has to give reasons why he should be reelected with such a still terrible unemployment rate and sluggish economy.  Mitt Romney has to keep the heat on Obama.  Breaking even in the debate with an incumbent president will not be enough.  That will be seen by the biased mainstream media as a win for their Lord and Savior, President Obama.  If Obama has another subpar performance, it could well be his final mistake of this campaign (and there have been plenty).  Another subpar performance by President Obama could, indeed, be his Waterloo moment of the campaign.