By The Cranky Housewife -
I almost wonder if Monday night would have been better spent cleaning the lint trap or something – not specifically because of Mitt Romney's or Barack Obama's performance during the last presidential debate for the 2012 election but because - having watched the debate - I find it nearly unbearable to witness the revisionary antics of the Obama reelection team and the mainstream media as they work together to spin Obama out of the pit of despair that he has dug for himself and this nation over the last four years.
Just as an FYI? During Monday's debate with Mitt Romney, Obama actually telegraphed to the press the theme of the next couple of weeks and you'll want to prepare yourself for the upcoming onslaught of political marketing featuring his last best chance to pull off this win. But more on that in a minute.
I was watching. I saw the questions, the candidates and their responses. I am completely unmoved by what passes for a Leftist victory lap regarding what can only be accurately described as Obama's sloppy second, and I am equally unimpressed with the Right's pseudo-apologetics on Mitt Romney's performance (i.e. "Romney's job last night was not to win the debate. It was to look presidential." Barf.) Romney won. He nailed it. The only way you could believe that he didn't win was if you watched the post-debate coverage having skipped the actual event in favor of the Bears/Lions game. There was simply no contest. Romney owned the evening.
Barack Obama? Well, he came away from the debate having proven that he can hold an icy, coldblooded stare better than any president that I've ever seen…certainly a useful talent when dealing with the evolving despotism of the Middle East, I'll grant you that much. Of course, in order for the Muslim Brotherhood to appreciate the president's glowering and sanctimonious scowl, he'd actually have to look them in the eyes and that co-mingles poorly with the nervous tick of genuflection that the international community has come to expect from our great leader.
And I struggle with this because there's always the possibility that I simply don't understand enough about demographics and polling data to grasp the dazzling strategy involved in Obama's physical intimidation techniques. This may, in fact, be a brilliant move on Obama's part, but if it is then it moves through a frequency that only dogs and small rodents can hear. From my perspective, I cannot comprehend who the president was trying to win over with his display of seething rage and contempt. I half expected an echoic voice-over chiding Mitt Romney's supreme self-control in the face of such presidential flippancy, "Obi Wan has taught you well…" or some such nonsense.
It was a curious exchange of ideas though…you know, Mitt Romney methodically outlining his growing concern over the escalating violence in the Middle East, explaining how to improve America's contentious relationship with China, specifically defining America's connection with Israel in a way that has not been considered for the last four years, emphasizing the need for energy independence as a way of solidifying and protecting our sovereignty. Hmmm…yep, and then there was Barack Obama…the sitting president, mind you…sprinkling his demands for candidate Romney to be more specific on how he's going to get the US out of the mess that Obama created as Obama then waltzed through his over-rehearsed "sound bites and sarcasm" session. Oh, sure. He demands detail, but did you hear him give any?
So what if Obama didn't use three separate debate opportunities to connect directly with the American people and offer even a crumb of detail about his vision for national security, foreign affairs or the economy through 2016. He's releasing his "Blueprint for America" today. It's all in there, I'm quite certain. You can just read it for yourself. He's a busy man and doesn't have time to explain his failures to the likes of you. He's got a hectic schedule of candidates to stare down. You'd be amazed at how that eats away at the day.
But the missive that Obama did manage to transmit to his willing accomplices in press was twofold. I assume they are focus-group tested, but again they are playing at one of those high-pitched frequencies which completely eludes my hearing – try though I might to grasp the urbane messaging of these progressive group-thinkers, the words instead hit my ears with the persuasiveness of a tone deaf soprano. I find myself saying, really? Is that actually the direction they want to go? Have they really thought this through? Well, I guess they know what they are doing. They are the professionals after all.
The first theme for the last days of the election of 2012 is "I'm glad Mitt Romney is coming around to my way of thinking."
For those people who are actually paying attention to this election cycle, we can only hold our noses and wade past the stench of excrement that the Obama campaign just offered as their last best hope for securing the presidency through 2016 and, by the way, our votes are already decided in favor of Romney.
In theory, the best way that Barack Obama has of winning this thing comes through differentiating himself from Mitt Romney and the Republican agenda but he's emphasizing their fabled similarities instead. What's that all about? Think about the underlying admission of failure that lives within the fibers of the strategy. What does that say about the American voters and how they are trending in this election?
We know that Mitt Romney has not moved closer to Barack Obama's way of thinking but Obama wants Americans to believe that there are no differences between the two men. We know that saying that the two men are just alike will not make it true, but we also understand the generalized philosophy that comes from the Left - if you tell a lie long and loud enough, people will eventually start to believe it. And yet, there's hardly enough time…only a few days left and we have four years of Obamian failure to survey compared to the record of Mitt Romney's successes. Why? Why is the Obama campaign going in that direction at this late date?
Perhaps it is the only option left?
And the second theme of the 2012 election is, "Who are you going to trust to get you through the next four years." Joe Biden said it a number of times during his debate with Paul Ryan. Barack Obama said it last night – maybe three or four different times. From Obama's perspective, this is clearly an idea whose time has come. I know what you are thinking, but give it a minute. Let it marinate. Reject the cool ease with which the snarky comeback presents itself in your mind. The fact that the "who ya gonna trust" concept comes preloaded with effortless rejoinders should be disdained. Obviously Obama's handlers didn't think through the alternative answers to the question.
Why? Do they not see the permutations of irony the way you and I do? Is their religious devotion to Barack Obama blinding them to the reality that the Obama presidency has been a colossal nightmare for too many Americans?
Or are they just out of ideas? Are we witnessing the insolvency of their theology? A spiritual bankruptcy? I guess only time will tell.
