Well tonight’s the big night. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama will finally face off, in verbal combat, mano-a-mano, broadcast live from the University of Denver. Each side has been trying to reduce expectations for their own candidate’s debating skills, and inflate expectations for their opponent, so their candidate will exceed expectations and thus “win” the debate. (Except for Governor Chris Christie, who basically said Romney is going to kick Obama’s butt.) I hope he’s right – figuratively that is.
In my opinion, no matter who “wins” the debate, most mainstream political pundits will opine that Obama’s the winner. In fact, I have to say that the media bias so far this campaign cycle has been worse than I’ve ever seen it. They’re rooting for Obama, and often don’t even try to hide it.
Of course this is not a new phenomenon. When Ronald Reagan was President, it seemed like every other story was about homelessness. And of course Ronald Reagan’s policies were at fault. Today, poverty and unemployment, especially among minorities, is at all-time highs, yet it gets almost no press attention at all. And of course it’s not Barack Obama’s fault.
When George W. Bush was President, every time gas prices would tick up at all, there’d be story after story of how American families were being devastated. People couldn’t afford to drive to work, or take their kids to school, and certainly couldn’t afford the luxury of a family vacation. And it was Bush and Cheney’s fault, because they were oil guys (and Republicans.)
Under President Obama, gas prices get up to, and in some cities over $4 a gallon, and hardly a word from the press. Obama single-handedly torpedoes the Keystone Pipeline and we hear – virtually nothing. And other than in this blog, when have you heard it mentioned in the press that Obama’s Secretary of Energy stated that it was his goal to “figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe?”
And on the international front, when Bush was President, American casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan were headline news. The general attitude was “Bush lied, people died.” And Bush’s use of drones in taking out top al Qaeda officials was portrayed as “there goes Bush the war criminal.”
Obama on the other hand, is treated with kid gloves. American Embassies are under siege, our flag is torn down, burned, and replaced with pro-al Qaeda flags, our Ambassador is murdered (President Obama shamefully refers to this as a mere bump in the road), and rather than criticize Obama, Mitt Romney is savaged for alleged “poor timing” in questioning the Obama Administration’s handling of the Middle East debacle.
All that being said, the debate tonight is still the best opportunity Mitt Romney has to make his case directly to the American people, why they should fire Barack Obama and hire him to lead the nation. As the challenger, Mitt Romney also has a significant advantage over President Obama. And that’s that just by being on the same stage with the President of the United States, the challenger’s stature is elevated. This doesn’t lessen the need for Mitt Romney to be knowledgeable, assertive, and confidently aggressive during the course of the debate. The challenge is, of course, being aggressive and respectful of the office of the Presidency at the same time. Fortunately, Mitt has Senator Rob Portman advising him on debate prep, so I think he’ll be well prepared.
By the way, I’ll be at a debate watch party at the Westwood Romney/Chabot Campaign Headquarters at 7 p.m. this evening. It’s located at 2300 Montana Avenue just up the street from I-74. You’re invited to stop by, have refreshments, talk politics, and if you’d like, stay and watch the debate.
Maybe I’ll see you this evening.
