Romney vs. Obama

On Wednesday October 3, 2012 President Obama and Governor Romney were scheduled to make their first presidential debate. I was very much looking forward to this debate. Obama is an eloquent speaker with a great mastery of rhetoric, and Romney was also a very seasoned speaker. Plus they were debating on the state of the economy, which made me more excited about the debate. Unfortunately, I had a deadline 2 days later and I was in the mood to work late. Then again, I convinced myself to lose this night (only to night, I told myself).

This attraction to politics, it is like a curse. Just five years ago, I was not at all interested in these things. I remember getting so much annoyed at a friend of mine who used to fret about such issues. Now I have developed this taste for checking the news, attending the views of the pundits, and sometimes taking my own position.

The first thing I observed when the two candidates started speaking was that Romney was quite energetic, aggressive even, while Obama was in a much laid back position. He even sounded tired and looked sleepy. That was not a good sign for the President.

The first half of the debate, the President was completely dominated. Romney spoke with a great sense of urgency, and he seemed to have a clear idea of what he wanted to communicate and how. He pursued the President, attacking him mercilessly. You might even say he exhibited a superiority demeanor, looking down on the President and presenting him as a naiveté on economic issues (“I've been in business for 25 years; [but] I have no idea what you're talking about.” Responding on the accusation that companies got government subsidies but shipped jobs abroad.)

There is so much on the table related to economic issues that can be thrown against the President. And the Governor did exactly that and with great intensity. Obama’s America has the slowest recovery since the Great Depression, and Romney had no qualms blaming all that on Obama, although in reality the President inherited a collapsing economy. All of a sudden, the President appeared weak, vulnerable, incapable of comprehending the problems surrounding him, and with no clear proposal on how to fix the US economy. And there was no sign of his charm and animation; he instead wore a professional bearing and tried to explain the complexities involved in the problem. He did not appear to have clear and simple answers, and his explanations seemed incomplete and unsatisfying.

In the last half of the debate, the President seemed to gain some footing as he shot some points on his opponent. He rightly pointed out the lack of specificity on the plans of the Governor. The Governor had made an excellent use of his position as the opposition, and Obama’s position as an incumbent. He highlighted all the weaknesses in the policies Obama introduced, and promised to repeal them (the rise of income tax for high income people and larger small businesses; the more than 700 billion USD cuts from Medicaid due to Obamacare; the assignment of too-big-to fail status for a few banks in the Dodd-Frank Act). On the other hand, he pointed out all the strengths in the policies of Obama and promised to keep them (coverage of pre-existing patients on Medicare; strengthening of bank oversight in the Dodd-Frank Act).

But Obama did not pursue Romney as much as he was pursued and attacked.  With some minor exceptions, he never retorted to serious attacks although there were many opportunities. That seemed to some extent intentional, to avoid causing any surprise and unsettle the status quo in which he was leading the Governor with an increasing margin. In any case, he showed some good grace in keeping his cool in spite of the heat he was facing.

That is not to say he was not unnerved though. He was seen a few times pursing his lips, and shifting uncomfortably perhaps as the realization downed on him that the debate was not going as planned. A few times he seemed incapable of grasping the direct, strong attacks that were thrown his way. I later heard a psychological explanation that made sense. Mr. Obama has been in charge of the most powerful office in the world for four years now, and in those years he never had anybody speak out face-to-face against him, and heard no negative remarks spoken personally against him so directly and forcefully. It’s indeed easy to realize that a person can completely adapt to a new environment in a four year time span. And the past four years, it is easy to imagine that the only things that were thrown Obama’s way were accolades (including the Nobel Prize) and appreciation and awe. And now, here you have a man standing before you and belittling you so sharply (“Mr. President, you are entitled to your own airplane, your own house, but not to your own facts.” “But you have been a president for four years now!”).

I think Romney was a clear winner of the debate. There are many things that qualify him as the winner. If we begin with his approach, “He appeared presidential,” as the pundits would put it. This could mean he looked the President as an equal (I would say he actually appeared to look down on him), and he projected the image of himself being a president in a very strong way, so much so that it sometimes felt it couldn’t be otherwise.

Never mind his approach; his plans to fix the economy also involved many strong points. He presented a very convincing if too general and one-sided perspective of the problems facing the US economy, and how to fix them. Obama, on the other hand, seemed more attuned to addressing issues of social justice and state-building from a social perspective, both of which seemed irrelevant today. But those are the issues I will address in my next blog.