by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
PJ Media<\/em><\/p>\n The Romney-Obama debate was bizarre for so many reasons. Usually spin masters needle the media immediately to \u201cprove\u201d that their so-so candidate won. But after this debate, almost no one made the argument that Obama was close to winning \u2014 so great was the risk for even a toadying media to look ridiculous and so clear-cut the ineptness of the president.<\/p>\n Instead, the eventual spin veered to why Obama lost (e.g., altitude, a supposed tranquilizer, a supposed mysterious Kleenex for Romney, a national security crisis, etc.) and was the stuff of fantasies. And when a candidate does poorly, usually his supporters look to the bright side, in worry about their favorite\u2019s crushed spirits, and hope in the days following the setback that perhaps their optimism might revive him. But on this occasion, the Left went nearly ballistic, in blaming Obama more than Romney for letting them down, as if a\u00a0Bill Maher<\/a>[1],\u00a0Michael Moore<\/a>[2],\u00a0Andrew Sullivan<\/a>[3], or\u00a0Chris Matthews<\/a>[4] had been personally betrayed, sold out, or even played for suckers, as if they were to admit something like \u201cwe at least expect you to show up when we do so much to cover for you.\u201d<\/p>\n While losing debaters often can\u00a0post facto<\/em>\u00a0snipe about the slickness of their successful opponent, I can\u2019t remember a disappointed loser replaying and reconfiguring the debate over the next few days on the campaign trail, in the weird fashion Obama has been offering teleprompted counter-arguments that he could never muster on his own during the actual faceoff. The classic blowhard, after all, is the loud blusterer, who always retells his own arguments and run-ins from the perspective of his own genius, thereby offering the embarrassing proof that he regrets just how poorly he was outfoxed and outargued without a script.<\/p>\n The common denominator here is the old story of the vast gulf between the reality and mythology of Barack Obama. Although Obama had sometimes shown some of the smarmy cool and set-speech fluidity of a John Edwards, otherwise there was never much evidence that Obama had ever excelled in debate or repartee \u2014 perhaps explaining why he wisely had consented to the fewest press conference and one-on-one Q-and-A press sessions of any recent president. His reliance on\u00a0the teleprompter<\/a>[5] has no recent presidential parallel, but was always wise even for the briefest of appearances. And yet even here, the chameleon-like set-speeches quicklybecome monotonous<\/a>[6] and the faux cadences jarring rather than clever.<\/p>\n Obama\u2019s real preferences are instead for brief puff appearances on\u00a0favorable, celebrity TV and radio shows<\/a>[7] that tend to enfeeble rather than sharpen his own analysis. And even those are rare, given his propensity to offer gaffes (in this regard, the \u201cyou didn\u2019t build that\u201d and \u201cthe private sector is doing fine\u201d sort are as frequent as or more common than the\u00a0far more notorious fare<\/a>[8] from\u00a0Joe Biden<\/a>[9]). In such an attenuated career, we forget that Obama\u2019s prior debate appearances have been rare, and against undistinguished debaters in group fashion during the Democratic primary and John McCain, and, in fact, were themselves largely just workmanlike and just enough to get by. His real and only political interests (and skills) are in caricaturing opponents, in a sort of trash-talking sports fashion (\u201cyou\u2019re likeable enough, Hilary,\u201d \u201cfat-cat banker,\u201d \u201ccorporate jet owner,\u201d the limb-lopping, tonsil-pulling physicians, etc.) or in whipping up a crowd (\u201cget in their faces,\u201d \u201cgun to a knife fight,\u201d \u201cpunish our enemies,\u201d etc.)<\/p>\n Yet perhaps the reason for Obama\u2019s reluctance to face questions and counter-argument was not just that Obama is not very good at it and resents doing his homework (\u201ca drag\u201d), and not just that his economic and foreign policy records are dismal and would be hard to defend under scrutiny, but largely that he has had scant need to work on debating or sharpening his analytical skills \u2014 given the investment of the media and popular culture in his success.<\/p>\n An often distracted and diffident Obama has astutely understood that his own fortunes were in some strange way a referendum on the liberal sensibilities of\u00a0legions of neurotic but influential elites<\/a>[10]. That realization had excused him from much of the mundane worries of other politicians \u2014 almost as if problematic things like polls, government statistics, laws surrounding lay-off notices, or controversies (from Fast and Furious to the Libya consulate disaster) would all be properly adjusted by others more interested in his success than he in his own.<\/p>\n How else could he be so recklessly careless in his effusive praise of the odious racist Rev. Wright, or so patently insincere in his\u00a0demagogic and racialist rants<\/a>[11] before largely African-American audiences? How else could he simultaneously demonize the Bush anti-terrorism protocols while embracing or expanding nearly all of them, or so clearly provide his own arguments (e.g., deficit will be cut in half, if he hasn\u2019t solved the problem, he would be a one-term president, etc.?) against himself?<\/p>\n Does all this mean that Obama cannot bounce back a bit in the next two debates? Not really.<\/p>\n Expectations have changed after the greatest audience in the history of presidential debates saw a veritable empty suit \u2014\u00a0or empty chair<\/a>[12] \u2014 on stage, without a helpful media follow-up question, or a \u201cmake no mistake about it\u201d refrain to be had.\u00a0Over 60 million<\/a>[13] now expect little at all from their president in the debate, so Obama will benefit from dismal expectations by just showing up as the incumbent and being addressed as \u201cMr. President.\u201d The pressure on Romney to be even more impressive mounts. The realization that another rant by a liberal commentator could cement the reputation of Obama as an incompetent and add to the image of a hopelessly inept president will temper post-debate media anger. The moderator cannot afford to be laissez-faire in the fashion of Jim Lehrer, and will prove far more partisan. The media pressure\u00a0to discount the importance of the debates<\/a>[14] themselves will increase.<\/p>\n But despite all that, the nation has now seen that the conservative critique of Barack Obama \u2014 fluff without substance \u2014\u00a0was frighteningly accurate<\/a>[15].<\/p>\n Also read:<\/p>\n \u201cWhy They Love Osama and Hate Obama, and How Obama Uses the Same Tactic at Home<\/a>\u201d[16]<\/p>\n URLs in this post:<\/p>\n [1] Bill Maher:\u00a0http:\/\/newsbusters.org\/blogs\/noel-sheppard\/2012\/10\/06\/maher-debate-it-looks-obama-took-my-million-and-spent-it-all-weed<\/a> \u00a92012 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media The Romney-Obama debate was bizarre for so many reasons. Usually spin masters needle the media immediately to \u201cprove\u201d that their so-so candidate won. But after this debate, almost no one made the argument that Obama was close to winning \u2014 so great was the risk for even a toadying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[96],"tags":[12,207,1026,32],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-6D","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":392,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-game-changes\/","url_meta":{"origin":411,"position":0},"title":"The Game Changes","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Usually after a presidential debate, both sides spin the results. But after the first face-off between President Obama and challenger Mitt Romney, Obama\u2019s exasperated handlers made no such effort. How could they when most opinion polls revealed that two-thirds of viewers thought Obama\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election 2012"","block_context":{"text":"Election 2012","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/election-2012\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":418,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-clear-alternatives-in-the-presidential-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":411,"position":1},"title":"The Clear Alternatives in the Presidential Debate","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce Thornton FrontPage Magazine Forget all the pre-debate handicapping and advice about what Mitt Romney needed to do or what Barack Obama had to avoid. Last night\u2019s debate clarified the stark choice facing American voters on November 6. On the one hand, we heard a candidate who endorses limited\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":378,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/what-the-debates-taught-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":411,"position":2},"title":"What the Debates Taught Us","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The president of the United States in the last debate chose to go on the attack against his challenger, Mitt Romney \u2014 and once again largely failed to convince the American people that he was the more presidential alternative. But how did the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election 2012"","block_context":{"text":"Election 2012","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/election-2012\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":416,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-problem-last-night-was-not-just-obama\/","url_meta":{"origin":411,"position":3},"title":"The Problem Last Night Was Not Just Obama","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner The problem for Obama is not that his performance was disastrous, but rather that it was his normal workmanlike coasting. But this time, and for the first time, he was pitted against a skilled debater who had both the better argument and the better\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election 2012"","block_context":{"text":"Election 2012","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/election-2012\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":420,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/election-could-mirror-1980-race\/","url_meta":{"origin":411,"position":4},"title":"Election Could Mirror 1980 Race","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services There was only one presidential debate in 1980 between challenger\u00a0Ronald Reagan\u00a0and President\u00a0Jimmy Carter. Just two days before the\u00a0Oct. 28\u00a0debate, Carter was eight points ahead in the Gallup poll. A week after the debate, he lost to Reagan by nearly ten percentage points. Reagan's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election 2012"","block_context":{"text":"Election 2012","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/election-2012\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":467,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obama-the-hare-romney-the-tortoise\/","url_meta":{"origin":411,"position":5},"title":"Obama the Hare, Romney the Tortoise","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The 2012 race has turned into one of Aesop's classic fables. 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\n
\n[2] Michael Moore:http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/blog\/watercooler\/2012\/oct\/4\/picket-michael-moore-obama-what-happens-when-u-pic\/<\/a>
\n[3] Andrew Sullivan:\u00a0http:\/\/pjmedia.com\/instapundit\/152633\/<\/a>
\n[4] Chris Matthews:\u00a0http:\/\/freebeacon.com\/chris-matthews-in-post-debate-meltdown\/<\/a>
\n[5] the teleprompter:\u00a0http:\/\/moelane.com\/2012\/10\/05\/rsrh-breitbart-com-asks-wi-dems-whether-obama-should-have-been-allowed-a-teleprompter\/<\/a>
\n[6] become monotonous:\u00a0http:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/online\/obama-caught-using-the-exact-same-line-when-talking-to-multiple-foreign-leaders\/<\/a>
\n[7] favorable, celebrity TV and radio shows:http:\/\/hotair.com\/archives\/2012\/08\/19\/team-obama-people-entertainment-tonight-equally-important-to-wh-press-corps\/<\/a>
\n[8] far more notorious fare:\u00a0http:\/\/freebeacon.com\/top-five-biden-race-gaffes\/<\/a>
\n[9] Joe Biden:\u00a0http:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2012\/10\/05\/joe-biden-cant-wait-to-raise-taxes-some-more\/<\/a>
\n[10] legions of neurotic but influential elites:http:\/\/www.americanthinker.com\/2012\/10\/how_the_liberal_media_ruined_obama.html<\/a>
\n[11] demagogic and racialist rants:http:\/\/pjmedia.com\/eddriscoll\/2012\/10\/02\/observation-can-become-an-intervention\/<\/a>
\n[12] or empty chair:\u00a0http:\/\/pjmedia.com\/instapundit\/152892\/<\/a>
\n[13] Over 60 million:\u00a0http:\/\/www.commentarymagazine.com\/2012\/10\/05\/debate-ratings-show-obama-picked-the-wrong-night-to-flop\/<\/a>
\n[14] to discount the importance of the debates:\u00a0http:\/\/newsbusters.org\/blogs\/tim-graham\/2012\/10\/06\/producer-amazed-historian-thought-romney-would-win-then-later-asked-if-h<\/a>
\n[15] was frighteningly accurate:\u00a0http:\/\/pjmedia.com\/instapundit\/152976\/<\/a>
\n[16] \u201cWhy They Love Osama and Hate Obama, and How Obama Uses the Same Tactic at Home\u201d:
\nhttp:\/\/pjmedia.com\/barryrubin\/2012\/10\/04\/why-they-love-usama-hate-obama-and-how-obama-uses-the-same-tactic-at-home\/<\/p>\n