Like the second debate, I think the President won this one...but by a slimmer margin than the last. Romney did what he had to do--he showed that he looked Presidential and that he could be the Commander in Chief.
Obama is likely to "win" in the snap polls--but his numbers will not budge in the real polls.
I'm not ready to call this for Romney....yet. But it won't be long.
UPDATE: I must 'splain something,. When I pick a debate winner, I pick the winner based ONLY on the performance of the players in that contest. I separate the debate from the larger context of the campaign.
And so, I thought Obama did a smidge better tonight, and so "won" the debate. Does that mean that Romney won't come out of it better off than he went in? No. It doesn't mean that. I think Indies will be happy with his "i'm not a war-monger" stance and his being very Presidential. But on the subject of the eveningm, BO took it,
"I came to watch a debate on foreign policy and a debate on economic policy broke out."
ReplyDeletePS - glad Romney is on board for the Navy, but he needs to work on missile defense requirements.
I'd agree O won, but I can't believe his snark played that well. His angry stare and comments like 'we have these things called aircraft carriers...' made him look petty. If this had been the first debate, it may have made a difference for him, but it came too late.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad these debates are over. If Mitt pulls this out, 90% of the reason why will be his performance in the first debate.
I disagree Obama "won". Most of the time people are looking at intangibles like bearing, forcefulness etc. Obama did ok but he was a little like Jimmy Carter with the jutting eyes (gotta be old to remember that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8YxFc_1b_0). And Obama made the same points as Carter: "We've been careful, steady; this guy doesn't understand foreign policy, I've done it etc.). And Carter with the Camp David accords had a lot better track record than Barack Obama.
ReplyDeleteRomney did what he needed to do. Romney showed himself to be thoughtful, reasonable with a good command of the issues. There was a lot of consensus which there should be on foreign policy but the Gov contrasted his disagreements well highlighting Obama's "apology tour" and his disagreements on Israel. Romney also nailed Obama on China and their trade practices which ties in to the economy; an issue that Romney owns.
All in all it was a positive for Romney and a negative for Obama. Romney showed himself to be at least the equal of the President and that's enough. Look, this is not a foreign policy election, they never are except in times of war. This thing will turn on the economy and that's what people are looking for is someone who can turn the ECONOMY around. Romney would have had to call for carpet bombing Bermuda to lose this debate.