Presidential Debate: The Heck Happened???

[amirm]

I tuned in last night to the US Presidential Debate. I expected to see the same masterful debater in President Obama which I saw last time where even when he was being attacked, he would smile. What a difference this year. The whole time Romney was talking to him, he had his head down. This was made much worse by the TV broadcast that put them on split screen constantly, showing the smiley Romney against a guy looking down and sad. This is the only image of that kind of shot that I could find:

He is showing a bit of a smile there but most of the time that was not there either. I am sure he did not know he was looking that way. The people who did know or should have known, must not have advised him about this. I mean these are the ABCs of how to look good on TV. What happened?

BTW, I like to keep this discussion about the "meta" conversation. I.e., no politics -- just how it came across. Please don't try to convince the other side to change sides. I am just fascinated by these smaller points. I thought I was the only one but the commentary afterward and this morning seem to relay the same message that President Obama did poorly compared to Romney from appearance point of view. This morning's poll on USA Today was 45 to 22 or something like it.

How can a masterful debater like President Obama find himself in this situation? The only thing I can think of is that he had a bad day earlier. The worst public speech I gave ever was in front of a few hundred people after I got some really bad news personally that day. I just wasn't myself.

What do you think?

 

[amirm]

Adding on, since I was doing so many press interviews, our PR people put me through "TV interview" training. They shot a tape of me and then played it back. It showed that I was nodding even though I was being asked something I was disagreeing with. My nodding was for acknowledgement that I heard the question and being polite. But I was told and correctly so that it would come across as I was agreeing. I watched for that last night and both were perfect at following this rule. It is a very hard thing to do as you sit there and listen to the question and want to be polite. You naturally want to nod but you can't.....

 

[FrantzM]

Well Romney didn't convince the undecided IMO but Obama clearly was awful .. Bad performance IMHO... Could have pinned Romeny down on many fronts .. You could tell he was very defensive about the economy.. The economy is a funny thing .. Presidents have little effect but are perceived to be able to just conduct it like an orchestra .. So if it is good then they get all the credit if it bad .. well ... and Obama is in that situation .. He didn't look as prepared as he's been 4 years ago.The other debates may be different in outcome as they cover grounds where he may arguably be said to be from adequate to good

 

[Steve williams]

without getting into politics I thought Romney wiped the floor with Obama. I was stunned as to how lackluster the president was compared to 4 years ago. Almost as if he were winging it

 

[rockitman]

Romney smoked Obama. Go Romney and on that note, I will now leave the political debate.

 

[Steve williams]

Debates don’t move polls. Debate winners do

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/signal/debates-don-t-move-polls-debate-winners-051129396.html

 

[Keith_W]

It made the news down here as well. Have no idea what was going through Obama's head. All I can say is - what a disappointment

Romney reminds me of GW Bush in so many ways.

 

[flez007]

looked like Obama had more important things to deal than the debate itself!

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Things said in the debates can become fodder for ads, too. And even the guy who "wins" can lose if he took positions that are contradictory, made statements that were misleading, etc. Time will tell, but it doesn't look as decided as it did yesterday morning, does it?

Tim

 

[audioguy]

I don't know who "won" the debate but I noticed a couple of things: When Romney was speaking and they showed split screen, Obama looked disinterested, bored, thinking about his rebuttal; nodding (sideways) to show disagreement or frowning. All of which, in my opinion, come across as negative. I was impressed, however, that Obama has improved DRAMATICALLY as a speaker when not using the teleprompters.

I won't watch again as it is very difficult for me to watch someone smile and tell what are clearly boldface lies at the same time. (but then again, isn't that the definition of a politician?)

I think I'm going to vote for Pat Paulson (for those of you old enough to remember who he was )

 

[jazdoc]

I hate the format of these things; it reduces the exchanges to 'gotcha' moments and trivializes important issues by turning them into sound bites. Having recently read Jaffa's book about the Lincoln-Douglass debates I wish that the candidates had longer to flesh out their proposals and philosphies i.e. 15-30 minutes with a 10 minute rebuttal. Then again, I'm not sure many modern politicians could speak coherently without a teleprompter for that length of time.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

If this was a Canadian debate, next day's talk wouldn't have been about who won or lost, but rather why they were wearing the wrong ties! Look at the pic and tell me what's wrong?

 

[Keith_W]

Romney is wearing a red tie, Obama a blue tie. Red states = Republican, Blue states = Democrat. Seems as if they were wearing the correct ties to me?

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Romney is wearing a red tie, Obama a blue tie. Red states = Republican, Blue states = Democrat. Seems as if they were wearing the correct ties to me?

It's the reverse in Canada

Liberal RED
Tory BLUE

 

[Keith_W]

It's the reverse in Canada

Liberal RED
Tory BLUE

Same in Australia I suppose.

Labor (socialists) - Red
Liberals (conservatives) - Blue
Greens (conservationists) - Green
Australian Democrats - Orange

 

[Steve williams]

Same in Australia I suppose.

Labor (socialists) - Red
Liberals (conservatives) - Blue
Greens (conservationists) - Green

Is it because when you flush the toilet the water goes in a different direction

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Is it because when you flush the toilet the water goes in a different direction

Haha!

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Same in Australia I suppose.

Labor (socialists) - Red
Liberals (conservatives) - Blue
Greens (conservationists) - Green
Australian Democrats - Orange

Canada:

Liberal RED
Tory BLUE
Greens - GREEN
New Democrats ORANGE


Sorry for the slightly off-topic here .....the pic just threw me off.

 

[amirm]

What did you guys think of the moderator, Jim Lehrer? I had a high opinion of him but I thought he totally lost control last night and Romney took best advantage of it. I recall previous events having super strict time limits.

 

[Keith_W]

Is it because when you flush the toilet the water goes in a different direction

Ours goes straight out the pipe and into the sewer. Does yours come out of the sewer and into the bathroom?