Romney Wins Debate #1 Hands Down; Style Over Substance; Tweedledum vs. Tweedledee

I watched the entire debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney tonight. As an independent voter, I have to say this was not even close.

Romney won the debate easily. He was confident, poised, respectful of Obama, and was willing to look at the president instead of the floor.

In contrast, president Obama kept looking down, kept shaking his head, and posture-wise seemed as if he was ashamed to be on the stage with Romney.

Style Over Substance

I still have to ask: Did either candidate really say anything we did not already know?

The answer is "not really". Obama kowtowed to unions and teachers. Romney kowtowed to the military. Did anyone expect otherwise?

We still do not know what differences there are, if any, between Obamacare and Romeneycare.

In terms of sound-bites, however, it was a blowout. Romney delivered, Obama didn't.

If you are an Obama supporter who sees it differently, then you are playing mind-over-matter political cheerleading.

In the pre-debate chatter Republicans stressed the debate would be about substance over style. It turns out there was no substance at all, rather a blowout of style over non-style.

Substance? What Substance?

We still do not know what budget cuts Romney will make. We just know that amazingly Romney will not cut Medicare.

Well, actually we do not know anything except that by some miraculous growth estimate, Romney pledges to not cut Medicare while raising military spending.

If you believe that, you may as well believe Obama's last pledge "Change You Can Believe In".

Bear in mind, president Obama never promised change. He only promised "change you can believe in".

People believed. Some still do. Some even believe Romney.

There Is No Choice

On the CNBC pre-debate show, Ron Paul said there is little difference between the two political parties.

Paul is of course correct. So is my friend Pater Tenebrarum who on September 28 stated There Is No Choice.

We have previously pointed out that there is actually no choice at all for the US electorate at the upcoming presidential election. This is because in terms of the policies they support, it is nigh impossible to differentiate between the two candidates. We were not just making an unsupported assertion – we offered proof, by showing a video in which they speak for themselves. If one cannot rely on their own words to represent what they stand for, what should one rely on?

Tweedledum vs. Tweedledee

Here is the video Pater referred to: Romney Obama the Same?



Bear in mind, I said the same thing as Pater on numerous occasions.

• November 11, 2011: Not your grandfather’s Republican Party; President Obama and Mitt Romney are Nearly One and the Same!
 
• February 12 2012: Obama Seeks to Prove He is More Like Romney; Obama vs. Romney - What's the Difference?
 
• April 24, 2012: Does it Matter if Obama Beats Romney?

These kind of discussions tend to get me in hot water, but I really do not care. Play the video and see for yourself.

Two Great Pretenders

Tonight it was amusing to watch president Obama cite all of the things he agreed with Romney on, while watching Romney do a much better job at pretending there were big differences.

To be sure, there are some differences. Romney pledges to blow more money on military spending than Obama. Can he deliver? Probably not. At least let's hope not.

On the other side of the fence, it was sickening to watch Obama pledge to waste more money on education. However, it was even more sickening watching Romney pledge to do the same thing in a different way.

If Republicans really believed in smaller government, we would have it. How many years were they in control of both houses and the white house and fail to deliver?

Obama pledged to close Guantanamo and stop torture. Did He? In practice, is Obama much different than Dick Cheney?

Will The Debate Matter?

The only pertinent question is "will the debate matter?"

I rather doubt it. Neither Romney nor Obama really said anything of substance. In spite of a pathetic performance by the president, Romney did not deliver a knockout blow.

Unless minds change, and change dramatically (and I doubt they do) a stumbling performance by Obama will likely be good enough.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/