A Strange Debate

Tonight's town hall format presidential debate struck me as strange. It was the most confrontational debate that I can recall in any presidential campaign. Plus, after all the discussion prior to the debate about Candy Crowley choosing the questions, some of her choices could only be called weird. With all that, however, I doubt that the debate changed much of anything. Certainly, Obama was not comatose like he was in the first debate; for that he will undoubtedly get credit. Indeed, Obama got the better of Romney in certain questions, while Romney won others. The most important moments for Romney, however, came when he had a chance to summarize the Obama years in a single answer. Romney's indictment of the multiple failures of the Obama years was incredibly strong. When he told the crowd that America does not have to settle for more of the same, it was the strongest point made the entire night by either candidate. Obama did his best to try to come up with achievements for his first term, but they were easily swatted aside by the overwhelmingly poor economic performance that Obama caused. Romney was also extremely strong in explaining the effect of his tax proposals and knocking down some of the lies that Obama and the Obamacrats have been telling about the Romney plan. In my opinion, Obama's strongest moment came in the most unlikely place: the question about Libya. This, however, will prove problematic since Obama lied about what happened the day after the attack. My guess is that in the next debate which is to focus on foreign policy, Romney will have a chance to bring that point home. Nevertheless, Obama was quite good in explaining how much he cares about the diplomats and others who serve America abroad. Of course, he really offered no explanation as to why he quickly ran off to Vegas for a fund raiser rather than dealing with the crisis.

Basically, I could score the debate as a tie or give a narrow victory to either candidate. That result, however, is a victory for Romney. Clearly, Romney will be seen as at least an equal of Obama's. For those who might still be wondering about his competence, the debate helps put such doubts to rest. The question for America remains this: do we want more of the same with Obama? If not, are we willing to trust Romney to try his hand? The nation has already clearly decided against Obama on the first part of the question. Tonight's debate is another big step towards Romney satisfying the second part of the question as well.