Opinion Do the presidential debates matter?
So how are you enjoying Debate Season,people? As compared to the prior Convention Season.
So how are you enjoying Debate Season,people? As compared to the prior Convention Season. Or that little patch in between that has now become known as Reducing Expectations Season. And before that,of course,there was Primary Season,and,before that,the French and Indian War.
On Wednesday night,as the debate era opened,Mitt Romney definitely seemed more energetic was there ever before a presidential candidate who could sound that enthusiastic while vowing to defund Big Bird? But Romney had that funny look on his face whenever President Obama was talking. Somewhere between a person who is trying to overlook an unpleasant smell and a guy who is trying to restrain himself from pointing out that his car is much nicer than your car.
Obama seemed tired or bored,and he fell way behind in the much-anticipated battle of the zingers. The president thinks these debates are ridiculous,and he may well be right. But,truly,it would have been a better idea to keep the thought to himself. On the other hand,he was the only one who wants Donald Trump to pay more taxes.
If you watched the whole thing,you know that the president has taken to calling his healthcare reform law Obamacare, which is really a tad strange. Also that Mitt Romney will not admit that any of his proposals could involve unpleasant details. Taxes will go down,but not revenues. The healthcare reform plan will go away,except for all the popular parts,which will magically remain intact.
And what are we to make of all this? There wasnt any car crash,but we have been trained to regard every twitch,tic and failure to look engaged as a matter of possibly cosmic consequence. The next leader of the most powerful nation on earth needs to be the person with the best comebacks,but the fewest strange facial expressions. Its a little like one of those fairy tales where the citizens of the kingdom pick their next king on the basis of a race to find the feather of the golden swan.
Do debates really matter? The experts say that,barring total disaster,the answer is no. The committed are already committed. Its all about the voters with failure to commit. Still,you dont want to mess these things up. No candidate wants to repeat the saga of Rick Lazio,who ran against Hillary Clinton for the US Senate in New York in 2000. During a critical debate,Lazio tried to be clever by walking over and asking Clinton to sign a campaign fund-raising pledge. It made him look less like a senator than a stalker,and now,a dozen years later,Hillary Clinton is known as one of the most beloved figures on the planet,while Lazio is known as the guy who once violated Hillary Clintons space.
All I know is that you deserve a hand,interested citizen. You really have been through a lot. And now weve still got two more presidential debates plus one vice-presidential debate. Then we will be moving into the final two weeks,sometimes known as the Actually Having an Election period.
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