It was painful to watch last night’s Presidential Debate.
President Obama didn’t show up to defend his record or show us how the Republican agenda is wrong. He never once said: “Yes, there’s a major difference between me and Gov. Romney. I don’t think 47 percent of Americans are deadbeats.”
Gov. Mitt Romney showed up to tell American what he thought it wanted to hear, not what he’s been proposing for the last 18 months. He took an indefensible Republican agenda and distored it to look like it’s the best friend of the middle class. He even ran away from the $5 trillion tax cut that is the centerpiece of the Romney-Ryan plan. Romney blatantly denied it was a $5 trillion plan when independent economic studies have clearly shown that’s exactly what it is–and “Nuns on the Bus” toured the country last summer to decry how “immoral” it is in giving more tax hikes to the rich while soaking the middle class.
But why are the pundits and commentators pointing all this out today? Why didn’t the president call Romney on his many lies and distortions; why he didn’t lay out his own achievements in keeping the country from the abyss of total financial breakdown and has us on the track back. Why didn’t the president mention the Republican war on women; how Romney coldly opposed the auto bailout; how he opposes unions; how he has dismissed half the nation?
Yes, it was painful, and I don’t know why President Obama took that approach. I wish we’d have seen the president I expected last night, and if we had, this election would be over. Now, Romney is back in play. That’s not only painful to me, but to the nation.
I so agree with you, as I watched the debate I was almost in shock. The President did not appear ready, or for that fact Presidential. In this day and age people need an in-your face argument for the issues. Then I thought, is that our problem or his. Isn’t part of our national problem that we need aggressive, antagonistic argument to get our attention, facts be damned. On the questions asked, President Obama answered with a calm, cool demeanor. He did give us the info we needed. But did we hear it over the voice of a man who, I think, is a pathological liar. President Obama did not answer all the questions you posed partly because the moderator did not ask. He certainly could have gone there, chose not to for some reason. He has to do better next time but I hope as informed Americans we can fact check and find that while Obama was flat, Romney was a liar and flip-flopper. Which would you rather have as our leader?