Recapping the Debate

It’s funny how one’s preconceived opinions and beliefs dictate reality.

Take last night’s presidential debate at the University of Denver. The talking heads are all saying the pumped-up Romney emerged victorious. Fans of the POTUS are saying his indistinct performance is all part of his secret plan to pounce when the time is right, that he skillfully goaded Robotron into giving him the outrageous sound bites he needs for his upcoming media buys. People are claiming that Romney lied through his pearly whites and that Obama appeared appropriately reserved and presidential. The only thing about which there seems to be universal agreement is that doddering debate moderator Jim Lehrer should have been there but clearly wasn’t.

At first I wasn’t even going to watch. Someone had made the point that few minds would be changed by the dog and pony show and that the candidates never respond to the questions they’re asked anyway. But my wife made the good point that voter turnout could be impacted by the guys' performances, that their supporters could either be fired up or devastated by the way their candidate handled himself. So I poured a fishbowl-sized glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, grabbed a slice of pizza and settled in to watch my choice – the incumbent, in case you don’t know – mop up the stage with his gaffe-prone, disingenuous challenger.

It didn’t turn out that way.

Watching this production, which focused on domestic issues, proved to be a painful way to spend 90 minutes. The president opened with his take on our situation:

“Four years ago we went through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of jobs were lost. The auto industry was on the brink of collapse. The financial system had frozen up. And because of the resilience and the determination of the American people, we've begun to fight our way back. Over the last 30 months, we've seen five million jobs in the private sector created. The auto industry has come roaring back and housing has begun to rise.”

I immediately began wondering just how a financial system can “freeze up,” where and how high housing had risen and why, if the American people are so resilient and determined, we still have so many unmet challenges.

The next thing I knew, Robotron was talking about his view, which was that everything will get infinitely better if we just become energy independent (at which point we’ll gain four million jobs), open up trade in Latin America, crack down on China when they cheat (he didn’t say on what), improve schools (he didn’t say how), balance the budget and champion small business. (We have to champion small business, whatever that means, because according to him, new business startups are at a 30-year low.) He insisted that we must abandon Obama’s commitment to Big, “Trickle Down” Government – with its increased spending, taxing and regulating – if we ever want the sun to rise and the birds to sing again.

I waited for Obama to come out swinging at this point, to really let loose with his superior oratorical skills, to ramp up his energy level and take his smarmy opponent to the woodshed. He chose, however, to maintain his lackluster demeanor and try to curry favor with his enemy, claiming that, “On energy, Governor Romney and I agree that we've got to boost American energy production” and “Governor Romney and I share a deep interest in encouraging small-business growth,” etc. Way to debate like a boss, Barack.

Robotron declared that he had no intention to raise taxes on middle-income families. He promised, in fact, to lower them. He insisted that he wouldn't reduce the taxes paid by high-income Americans and that his opponent’s plan to increase the tax rate on successful small businesses from 35 percent to 40 percent would, according to the surely-impartial National Federation of Independent Businesses, cost 700,000 jobs. (He didn’t say how, why or where.)

POTUS pointed out that Robotron was making the same sales pitch that was made in 2001 and 2003, when we ended up with the slowest job growth in 50 years. “We ended up moving from surplus to deficits,” Obama said, “and it all culminated in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.”

Romney claimed that 32 million Americans were on food stamps when Obama took office and now 47 million require assistance. He announced his intention to kill Big Bird and his buddies by stopping the subsidy to PBS and he worked in the obligatory reference to Our Heavenly Father, saying, “I believe we must maintain our commitment to religious tolerance and freedom in this country…we are endowed by our Creator with the right to pursue happiness as we choose.” I should have pursued happiness by turning off the television at this point but I didn’t.

Now that's clean!

When Robotron declared, “And by the way, I like coal. I'm going to make sure we continue to burn clean coal,” my asthmatic wife and son cheered because they were so happy to learn that there is such a thing as clean coal. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that “clean coal” is in the same category as “frugal spendthrift” and “chaste whore.”

Obama and Romney covered or referenced the Commission on Presidential Debates, Simpson-Bowles (a proposal to slash the federal deficit and lower tax rates), Big Oil and green energy, Solyndra (a California-based solar energy company that had received government loans but ended up filing for bankruptcy and laying off employees), Obamacare, Medicaid and Medicare, shipping jobs overseas, Obama’s dead grandmother and entitlements, Dodd-Frank (a financial regulation/Wall Street reform proposal signed into law by Obama in 2010) and even Osama bin Laden. The uninspiring, detail-rich conversation spurred one of my Facebook pals to post at one point, “Geez, guys! Less wonk, more vision!”

At the end, POTUS even thanked Governor Romney for a terrific debate. Talk about a shellacking!

The next campaign debate will take place on October 11, when Vice President Joe Biden and Wisconsin Congressman Eddie Munster brawl and bicker in Danville, Kentucky. I’d watch it but that’s when I’m scheduled to count how many blades of grass are in my backyard.

Sources: Reuters, NPR.