Angst has broken out among liberals again. Obama didn't win the debate, and liberals themselves led the trashing. Then, two polls show Pres. Obama as an underdog, by 4 and 2 points, and Andrew Sullivan is rending his garments.
You'd probably have to do a formal analysis, using sophisticated scientific tools, to determine whether it was liberals or conservatives who were more critical of the President after last week's debate because it certainly is not obvious as to which one of them hurled the biggest barbs. They both piled on. This contributed to what Steve Benen called a "feeding frenzy":
...that (forgive the mixed metaphor) led to a snowball effect -- the conventional wisdom went from "Obama had an off night" to "Obama was awful" to "Obama humiliated himself" to "Obama drooled on himself before stripping naked and singing the Soviet national anthem." This evolution in perceptions, it's worth noting, happened with incredible speed.
It was one debate, in which, in reality, the President did not do that bad. He made some good points along the way, but he made them without energy and didn't make them stick.
His campaign team apparently didn't anticipate Romney's strategy, which they should have, since it has been obvious all along that Romney was going to do the etch-a-sketch and start all over as a moderate. The President was not well-served by his staff on that one.
People made fun of Al Gore's suggestion that the altitude may have had something to do with the President's demeanor, but nobody in Denver did. This actually happens. It's not full-blown "altitude sickness," but more a tiredness and lassitude. The first three months I lived in Colorado, I took a short nap every day.
The staff didn't anticipate this? Romney's staff did. They brought him in the night before and made sure he got a good night's sleep.
In any case, this race was a good deal closer than people were thinking anyway. Obama has enjoyed leads of 1-3 points most of the way, which, let's just say, does not portend a blow out. He hits a bump and loses a point or two? That's to be expected.
There's just under a month left. Lots will happen. It's a long ways from being over.
Here we are--the Hillary supporters--saying give the guy a break. I think it is because they made him into a superhero in the first place so he had nowhere to go but down.
Posted by: lillianjane | October 09, 2012 at 03:00 PM
He's not a particularly good debater. Hillary regularly cleaned his clock.
Posted by: John Petty | October 11, 2012 at 11:06 AM