Thursday, October 4, 2012

The Great Debate: Audio vs. Video

I work most nights so I miss a lot of prime time programming. Thus, I experience a lot of events on radio on the long ride home. That was the case with convention speeches and now with the debate. The pundits all chirped about how great Romney performed.

When I got home and finally settled in, I put the debate on Youtube as I multi-tasked on my Lenovo. Experiencing the debate in audio, I did not get the impression that it was all that lopsided. It sounded like both candidates were advancing their talking points. Romney's talking points are not quite as hackneyed or tired or worn out as Obama's but still, they came across as talking points. Obama came across as well, Obama. Nothing to stir one's pulse but nothing to make the faithful jump ship either.

Watching the video did change my perspective. Romney's attack was labeled "aggressive diplomacy" by an anonymous radio caller. It was unendingly polite yet confrontational. Romney did what journalists used to do.

Obama on the other hand, appeared defeated. I believe Obama has a hard time selling his economic policies because he does not fully believe in them. He might believe in them in a dogmatic/doctrinaire kind of way but he knows that the country pays a price for his version of economic justice.

No president has ever been so pampered and in the end the fawning media might have done him a disservice. Of all the many images of Obama we have endured over the years, the prolonged staring downward as he was so courteously eviscerated might ultimately be the image by which he is best remembered. Without the sycophantic journalists, the Kool-Aid drinkers, the fainting women and the trusty teleprompter, the emperor looked a bit underdressed.

This was Romney's night.

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