Anyone who really takes President Barack Obama at his word that he was just being "polite" during the first 2012 Presidential Debate... does not really understand him OR his relationship with Team Obama. I am writing this a half-hour before his second debate so I can make the case for why Barack Obama CAN NOT lose tonight's debate (Oct. 16, 2012).
Fact #1: the President of the United States (POTUS) is too authentic, to be merely "polite." He leads as much from the heart, as he does the head. President Obama knew it was unlikely he would win the first debate because historically it's the challenger that has the most to gain. For merely by getting face time with an incumbent president, a challenger is legitimized.
Barack Obama's implicit strategy was to not let Mitt Romney score points by getting him into false fights. This became painfully obvious from the President's face when he suddenly realize the extent to which the former Governor was distorting the truth and changing his position to the opposite of what he had established during two years of campaigning. For example, if the President had attacked Romney on the 47% he claimed in a video didn't matter, Mitt would have said, as he did a day later, that he was wrong to say that. The President was thus smart not to give Mitt Romney a national audience to say he wanted to re-frame his answer.
In fact, Barack Obama did not do what Mitt and his debate preparers had expected him to do. It was a gamble on the President's part AND it left the GOP feeling perhaps more confident about their candidate, than they should have. The President's tactic not to actually debate Romney point-by-point was a smart one based on the later reaction of Undecided Voters. The one time President Obama took issue with Romney's changed position on an issue, it was seen as negative by a CNN Colorado Focus Group; they gave the President their lowest points for the entire debate. They said they didn't like Obama going negative.
So, President Obama was right in his Mohamed Ali-like strategy to let the challenger take his best shots in Round One. By laying back rather than defending every point tossed out by Mitt Romney, the President showed his brilliance and confidence. He chose to look presidential and chose to describe what he had done in four years. He was not baited into action or side-tracked by later-proven lies. In fact, the average viewer could see President Obama staying on his message when refused to even look at the challenger. By looking down and elsewhere, the President revealed the extent to which he lacked respect for Mitt Romney. To have attacked the former Governor of Massachusetts, the President would have needed to look at him as he repeatedly told him again, and again, that he was wrong. Mr. Obama chose not to do that or to live up to the expectations of TV commentators. He also chose not to "bully" the moderator.
Fact #2: The President will definitely win the second debate because his behavior in Round One cleared the way for him to be more energized or aggressive. With everyone saying the President was "wimpy," not engaged, "disappointing," he can now come out swinging. Barack Obama realized more so than the media that his job was not to "entertain" TV watchers, but to inform them. Where Mitt tried to be "hot" and full of energy for the TV audience, Obama was cool, in control, and presidential-like because he was already President. And in "disappointing," pundits and media journalists, they became the very ones to fill-in the-blanks and reveal what the President should have said during the first debate. The beauty of this strategy is that the media itself revealed the many lies and half-truths deliberately spun by the GOP and its candidate. "Where is Obama," screamed Chris Matthews of CNN who obviously had different expectations. That refrain eventually turned to the President and former President Bill Clinton asking: "Who is this man pretending to be Mitt Romney."
Fact #3: the President can not lose the second or third debate because he's not just a better candidate than Mitt Romney, he is also a smarter and more authentic one. Have we already forgotten about historic it is that an African-American is president of these United States? Have we forgotten that the immediately reaction by the losing party in 2008 was to see him fail, so he could not be re-elected four year later? The real story, then, is not what is Barack Obama going to do for us in the future, but how was he able to do as much as he did, despite continuing efforts by some of the richest racists and white supremacists in the country? It certainly should not be forgotten that if 50% of Americans favor re-election, regardless of his race, another 50% do not, largely because of his race. Now more than ever, it seems clear in the 21st century that such GOP calls for "small government" and fiscal responsibility or questions about whether Obama was born in this country... are really code words to hide the incipient racism that lives on. On September 5, 2012, Rush Limbaugh, for instance, said Obama is not "authentically black" because he lacks "slave blood." In May 2012, a Republican lawmaker from Colorado, U. S. Rep. Mike Coffman told the audience at a fundraiser that the President is not an American. What other POTUS has had to put up with these kind of hateful rhetorical barriers while running the country?
Fact #4: President Obama can't lose in remaining debates because he is consistent in showing how much Republicans and Democrats differ on taxes, abortion, health care, immigration, parity in pay for women, education, etc. When all the rhetoric dies down, citizens get to see that the political solution for our country's problems is philosophical. With the Democrats, the solution is in the people. For the Republicans, the solution is in a republic driven by an invisible hand in the marketplace where low-wages are a solution to economic problems.
But, Obama's race, gender, intellect, and style come into play for what is one of the most exciting times in our country. To not understand the President's strategy is to forget that he is a fighter who did the unthinkable for an African-American: took on the Chicago Machine and won; convinced a majority white population to elect a Black American as the leader of the Free World AND saved the country from bankrupcy after eight years of Republican-created greed, deregulation, and huge deficits. Obama's background makes him different, wise, patient, and a student of east and west cultures. He understands that life is not a zero-sum game and that like most games, there's more than one inning or quarter for scoring points.
I might also add that those who believe Barack Hussein Obama makes decision based on the expectations of TV journalists probably forget that the Harvard graduate, scholar, and community outreach worker has a tool chest of strategies. President Obama is tested, now, and continues to show that he is consistent in his character, his integrity, and leads with his heart as much as his mind. AND... he has high expectations for himself.
That's why some forget that Barack Obama tends to pace himself in fights. Like in the sports he love, he often performs better the closer he gets to the end of the game. So don't look for POTUS to lose the remaining debates or the presidency.
This kind of publicity shows how much some people FEAR diversity, change, and a non-white in the White House.
