Obama vs Romney Debate

[Flint]

I think Obama did very well on repeating over and over how Romney's policies are 'all over the place' (regardless of whether they are or not, he says it so many times you're convinced there must be something to it); also the phrase 'as commander in cheif' sounds much more authoritative--as compared to a guy who, by definition, isn't already the president; also Obama had a finely crafted program of implying Romney's lack of knowledge (Russia as the greatest threat without the context of how different threats are defined; the 'apology tour' as something which was a 'whopper' when fact-checking is not applicable to an obviously subjective matter of opinion); and of course, Obama had really great zingers! I think these are all things that will stick with people despite their lack of substantive merit. I wish Obama had made a better case for his principles, for us thinkers. I have red flags that go up when a speaker relies too heavily on emotion.


By contrast, I think Romney had the problem that I often run into as an IT guy: facts are boring. Sound, traditional ideas aren't sexy. Listening to an executive-level businessman speak about the broad view of matters, wherein large chunks of ideas are zipped in small keyword packages, for brevity's sake, tends to, when not examined thoroughly, appear to contain deceptively less information than if fully expounded. I got it, I understood what he was saying, but as a technical person who deals with logic all day long, I tend to latch on to concepts like: the guy who is telling me that he knows how to do something can demonstrate that he has previously been successful at doing this thing. That counts more than rhetoric, to me. That counts more than the other guy having great zingers. To me.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Flint

By contrast, I think Romney had the problem that I often run into as an IT guy: facts are boring. Sound, traditional ideas aren't sexy. Listening to an executive-level businessman speak about the broad view of matters, wherein large chunks of ideas are zipped in small keyword packages, for brevity's sake, tends to, when not examined thoroughly, appear to contain deceptively less information than if fully expounded. I got it, I understood what he was saying, but as a technical person who deals with logic all day long, I tend to latch on to concepts like: the guy who is telling me that he knows how to do something can demonstrate that he has previously been successful at doing this thing. That counts more than rhetoric, to me. That counts more than the other guy having great zingers. To me.

That's what Obama did in the first debate and got creamed. He learned.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

That's what Obama did in the first debate and got creamed. He learned.

Excellent point.

[Ibby]

Originally Posted by Flint

I got it, I understood what he was saying, but as a technical person who deals with logic all day long, I tend to latch on to concepts like: the guy who is telling me that he knows how to do something can demonstrate that he has previously been successful at doing this thing. That counts more than rhetoric, to me. That counts more than the other guy having great zingers. To me.

The thing is, to me, the guy with proof that he can do this thing is Obama, and Rmoney is the one with the zingers and the problem record.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Ibby

The thing is, to me, the guy with proof that he can do this thing is Obama, and Romney is the one with the zingers and the problem record.

I understand we all look at things with a certain viewpoint, and it's hard to disentangle our observations from our preferences, but I do observe that as a Governor (not the President, but still a bigger job than anyone we'll ever know has done), Romney worked across the aisle with Democratic leaders to do a bunch of things that everyone always says they are going to do, but he actually got them done (they happened under his leadership), i.e. a balanced budget, top-performing education system, and healthcare reform.

You don't have to like him, but these are good things. He knows how to do these things.



On the zingers, come on dude. Google "romney obama zingers" ...
Obama has been unanimously crowned the king of zingers. Don't take that away from him--he worked hard for that title!

[Sheldonrs]

Originally Posted by Flint

I understand we all look at things with a certain viewpoint, and it's hard to disentangle our observations from our preferences, but I do observe that as a Governor (not the President, but still a bigger job than anyone we'll ever know has done), Romney worked across the aisle with Democratic leaders to do a bunch of things that everyone always says they are going to do, but he actually got them done (they happened under his leadership), i.e. a balanced budget, top-performing education system, and healthcare reform.

You don't have to like him, but these are good things. He knows how to do these things.



On the zingers, come on dude. Google "romney obama zingers" ...
Obama has been unanimously crowned the king of zingers. Don't take that away from him--he worked hard for that title!

I was living in MA when he was Governor. He wasn't even in the state for over 400 days during his 4-year term. The things that got done were done mostly without much if any input from Romney. He put his NAME to the popular things, but that's about it.
That's the main reason he had all his records sealed when he left.

[xoxoxoBruce]

While he was governor, Massachusetts;
1. Ranked 47th in job growth.
2. Suffered the second-largest labor force decline in the nation.
3. Lost 14 percent of its manufacturing jobs.
4. Experienced “below average” economic growth and was “often near the bottom”.
5. Piled on more debt than any other state.

[Stormieweather]

He says he did all these great things as governor, but really, a lot of them occurred or were put in motion before he was elected. As Bruce stated above, the actual change in MA during Romney's leadership was dismal.

He can take credit for Romneycare, upon which Obamacare is based. Of course, he says he would repeal Obamacare as soon as elected and do something else.

[Flint]

So he doesn't get any credit for the good things, but he takes all the blame for the bad things? Ouch--that doesn't sound like a fair criteria!