The first Presidential Debate is in the can. Time to compare notes:
IMO, Mitt Romney came across as cool, collected, and very well prepared. It was like he knew the questions before they were asked, which of course he didn't. Kudos. He was aggressive, didn't have any odd mannerisms, didn't twitch, sigh, roll his eyes, etc. He addressed his remarks towards the President.
IMO, President Obama seemed to have been caught flat-footed and often fumbled with how to respond to Romney's jabs. He was definitely on the defensive. He didn't seem to be as well prepared. He looked down or nervously towards someone (Michelle?) in the audience. He had way too many long pauses and "Ahhhh's".
But the curve ball I noticed most was, who REALLY is Mitt Romney? I've said for months he was making a BIG mistake by pandering to ultra-right-wing Tea Party conservatives. He had their votes automatically by default. It will be the moderates who will be the deciding factor in this election. THEY are the ones he has to win over.
Tonight he talked straight to those moderates. Very smart politics....but very much at odds with what he's been saying before now. Example? He said he would give everyone a tax deduction basket with a specific dollar amount cap. Taxpayers could fill it with anything they wanted from a list of possible choices UP TO THAT DOLLAR AMOUNT. He specifically said the wealthy would top off their deduction basket early, and that's it. They would lose almost all of their current deductions. There's no way in hell the Tea Party would have smiled on that idea!
In other words they (the rich) would see their taxes go WAY up. That is NOT what he's been saying for the last year. If he had offered that before now Obama would have jumped all over it enthusiastically!
Another example? In his closing remarks he said as Massachusetts's governor he worked well with a legislature made up 80% by Democrats. As President he would sit down with Democrats in Congress and find common ground with them for the good of the American people.
That is definitely NOT what he's been intimating to the Tea Party crowd. If he really felt that way, why would he choose Paul Ryan as his running mate? Ryan, along with congressional Republican Young Gun leaders like Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy, have been notoriously uncompromising. They are the main reason this Congress is gridlocked. It's "their way or the highway". I'm sure Paul Ryan cringed when he heard his potential boss say he would sit and sing Kum-ba-yah with the Democrats.
So was the Mitt Romney that I saw tonight, the moderate, the REAL Mitt Romney, or was tonight's Mitt Romney just a poser?
It's gonna be an interesting finish.
That's my two bits.
S
