Tags:
Journalism of Courage
As the US presidential election heads into the home stretch,Republican challenger Mitt Romney handed Barack Obama a virtual defeat at the first debate,which focused on domestic policy. With what seemed like a three-way consensus to limit the discussion to taxes and budgetary considerations,Romney was able to aggressively attack Obamas economic record as president while simultaneously moving to the centre. This was not the ultra-conservative Romney seen through the campaign trail so far. Instead of tax cuts for the rich and budget-slashing,he was able to use his record as Massachusetts governor as an advantage while promising not to cut federal spending on education and even conceding that regulation plays a role in building an effective market economy.
If this was a remade Romney,it was also a strangely listless Obama. The president had a lacklustre outing,ignoring opportunities to ask hard questions of Romneys tax plan or even to point out that many of his opponents now-moderate opinions were dramatically different from everything he had professed to believe through the Republican primaries. The eloquence that characterises so many of his public appearances was curiously absent,seemingly abandoned in favour of a low-key,above-the-fray approach.
