Contrary to conventional wisdom that debates are rarely, if ever, game-changers, the first presidential debate was a demolition derby.
And no amount of post-debate fact-checking , spinning or dances of one’s choice (Barack Obama has cited Mitt Romney’s tap-dancing and soft-shoe) is going to alter the impression of Romney’s winning-ness.
It was quite simply a knockout performance by the Republican challenger. Or, as Notre Dame professor and political observer Robert Schmuhl put it, “Romney gets a gold medal, and Obama wasn’t even in the same competition.”
Schmuhl, professor of American studies and author of “Statecraft and Stagecraft: American Political Life in the Age of Personality,” told me that on optics alone, the victor was clear.
“All one had to do on Wednesday night is turn down the volume and study the body language of the two figures. After a short period of time, there was no comparison in terms of performance.”
As anyone watching the debate couldn’t avoid noticing, the president rarely looked at Romney, seemingly riveted by something on his lectern. He may have been taking notes — or studying the wood grain — but the effect was to appear disengaged. Or miffed. Or rude. Refusing to look at people when they’re talking, whether a debating partner, a spouse or a colleague, is a blatant act of passive hostility. One need only be human to recognize it.
Obama’s performance has been sufficiently critiqued, though one tic seems to have escaped attention. His million-dollar smile, which usually lights up a room, seemed like a flashlight in broad daylight. It appeared to be remembered punctuation, as though thinking to himself, he decided:
“This is not going well. Oh wait, they love it when I smile.” Ignition.
Far from being an expression of humor, confidence or even friendliness, the smile seemed false, an imposter at a funeral, a news reader’s inappropriate cheerfulness at catastrophic news.
It was, frankly, painful to watch.
Optically, the effects were clear — and in the age of media and personality, optics matter. As Schmuhl noted, Romney, despite being 65 and Obama just 51, seemed the much younger man — both youthful and energetic. Obama seemed tired, peeved and eager to be anywhere but there.
The morning brought bad reviews, but given Obama’s now-legendary isolation from any but his tight circle of confidants, it isn’t clear he is aware of them. Instead, he was out stumping and trumpeting as though he had left the arena victorious. Standing the next day in his comfort zone before 30,000 fans, he wondered who that man had been — that Romney guy who showed up at the debate.
In fact, the Romney who appeared in Denver to duke it out with the president is the one supporters once knew. It was the most recent Romney — the awkward, gaffe-prone Romney — who now seemed the stranger. Friends and close associates talking among themselves had been wondering what happened to their Romney — the smart, overachieving businessman who was never at a loss for solutions.
He’s back. The dog is off the roof. Likability is now moot.
And likability, it turns out, isn’t about a winning smile or a cross-court shot. It’s about competence. Romney may not be able to perform the miracles he promises. Most presidents, once in office, discover that doing is harder than saying. But Wednesday night he conveyed a depth of knowledge as well as a level of confidence that is infectious.
Obama gave rebuttals that failed to convince.
Friday’s jobs report, putting unemployment below 8 percent for the first time since Obama was inaugurated, no doubt put some spring back in his step and may have stolen some of Romney’s fire. But what is clear is the game is by no measure over.
Before the debate Wednesday, Americans by 2-1 believed that Obama would secure a second term. Yet the fact that 67.2 million people tuned in to the debate suggests a higher level of interest than a fait accompli would indicate. According to Nielsen, the TV ratings company, Obama vs. Romney viewership was up 28 percent from the first presidential debate four years ago. The largest audience in 2008 came with the second debate at 63.2 million viewers.
At this point, with the new jobs numbers following on the impressions of the first debate, as Schmuhl puts it, “reality and mediality converge.”
Which is to say, anything could happen, and all bets are off. Game on.
Kathleen Parker is a columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group. Her email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.
Impression? Performance? But no substance (on Romney’s part)? This makes him a “winner”? Sure hope not.
Romney stood tall and is best suited in economics. President Obama painfully kept looking for this teleprompter to tell him what to say and it was not there. That was sad and shows why most of us are financially worse off today than when he took office. This is not a game and is not about polls, this is about America and our future. We need a leader. Romney is that man.
Apparently you watched a different version of the debate. Probably had to rely on what MSNBC hosts had to tell you about it. That is just sad.
Even if you watched it with the volume off, or with your eyes closed, it was obvious that Obama was crushed. The “no substance” was with your man, not Romney.
You’re arguing that we should watch the debate with the sound off — that is the definition of no substance. You aren’t getting any substance, you’re just getting the superficial. You need the sound on.
Not so. On content and substance Obama won. On presentation and rapid fire in your face Romney won. It’s still a mystery to be why Obama played the high road instead of fighting back on the blatantly obvious. In my closing argument it would have all been if you elect this guy the toilet will look like a good place.
Pure BS!!! Obama didn’t take the high road. He was unprepared and looked like a lost puppy. He hasn’t accomplished one significant thing in his for years of “change.” He’s been a joke since the media fell in love with him. Obamacare is going to cripple small business by paying high premiums or their going to lay people off to make sure they don’t have 50 workers. He’s trying to buy the election by scaring low income people into believing that he can redistribute the wealth. A vote for me he says will insure you get a anadout from the government. Romney wasn’t my first choice, but I’ll take a successful businessman for president over a smiling man anyday.
Obama was so perplexed and incompetent, about the only ones in the country who thinks he did good post right here on the BDN. He couldn’t defend one item and couldn’t give a rebuttal on anything.For once bill maher got it right…his 1M must have been used for weed. Kind of disheartening for the sheep to see their leader get undressed in front of 60 million viewers. I would be wondering what else he was using us for if I was one of the sheep.
Obama was beside himself with the lies being spewed from the phony Romney!
Ask youself ONE question!
What has Romney ever done for the working people in America!
OBama: “”It’s a drag,” he added. “They’re making me do my homework.” Face it, Obama didn’t do his homework for the debates and, as a result, he got creamed and deservedly so. This is just one more example of Obama hubris, arrogance and intellectual laziness that has resulted in a presidency ranking right down there with Carter’s.
Funny that the lefties are shouting that Romney lied, but they’ve yet to provide the lies that he told. And the intelligent in America ain’t takin’ the bait.
Romney didn’t lie about anything. Even the left wing fact-checkers are having a hard time twisting anything he said into lies. Obama got his hat handed to him. He’ll get two more hats before the debates are done.
LOL, quit lying yourself. No one has provided the lies Romney told? That’s not true and you know it. The fact checkers tore him apart. Even his staff had to admit post-debate that they weren’t going to cover those with pre-existing conditions.
Again!
What has Mitt Romney ever Done for the Working people of the United States!
Dodge all you want but even his saving of the Salt Lake City Games was done at the Tax Payers Expense!
The Man is All Smoke And Mirrors!
The only People buying it are the Mezmorized and the Gulible.
Here’s a quickie for you: “My plan includes Insurance availability for those with pre existing conditions.” Lie, and it took his own aides to fact check that one.
JOBS. Wish I could say the same thing for Obama.
Communist Chinese labor Camps don’t Count!
LOL
Massachusetts 47th in job growth under Romney. Romney op eded to bankrupt GM; Obama did the right thing and saved 250,000 jobs.
Romney wiped the floor with Obama. Then in rode the lefties from MSNBC to clean up the mess. It’s almost comical.
Oh, then there’s AlGore and his high altitude excuse. Precious.
But, for all of you that still think the video caused the riots in Libya, I’m sure you still think Obama won the debate.
Obama should have called out Romney for all his lies and flip-flopping that night. There was no excuse for Obama not to point out how dishonest Romney was being. That’s okay though, still 3 more debates to go.
Mitt Romney KO’D himself because the Mitt that had just campaigned for 2 years was not there at all, except the truth manipulative flip flopper.
Funny how the AARP distanced themself. Funny how even the guy who Obama was saying said Romney’s tax plan was not so came out and said…nay nay! He didn’t say that. Even an obama surrogate Andrea Mitchell was upset she was “used” in an ad. The country is on the brink of economic disaster, the pres and his cronies are lying blatantly about Lybia and yet BIG BIRD is the only thing they can now throw at Romney. Even Big Bird told them to stop “using” him. Amazing that without his teleprompter, the smartest man on the planet, the next FDR, the next JFK, the next Abe Lincoln couldn’t even stand up to the smallest rebutals. Like Obama said in the past, when you can’t run on your record, go negative. By the way….WHERE IS OPRAH??????