From Peggy Noonan:
We all say Ohio, Ohio, Ohio. But it's all still Denver, Denver, and the mystery that maybe isn't a mystery at all.
If Cincinnati and Lake County go for Mitt Romney on Nov. 6 it will be
because of what happened in Denver on Oct. 3. If Barack Obama barely
scrapes through, if there's a bloody and prolonged recount, it too will
be because of Denver....
Why was the first debate so toxic for the president? Because the one
thing he couldn't do if he was going to win the election is let all the
pent-up resentment toward him erupt. Americans had gotten used to him as
The President. Whatever his policy choices, whatever general direction
he seemed to put in place he was The President, a man who had gotten
there through natural gifts and what all politicians need, good fortune.
What he couldn't do was present himself, when everyone was looking,
as smaller than you thought. Petulant, put upon, above it all, full of
himself. He couldn't afford to make himself look less impressive than
the challenger in terms of command, grasp of facts, size.
But that's what he did.
And in some utterly new way the president was revealed, exposed.
All the people whose job it is to surround and explain him, to act as
his buffers and protectors—they weren't there. It was him on the stage,
alone with a competitor. He didn't have a teleprompter, and so his
failure seemed to underscore the cliché that the prompter is a kind of
umbilical cord for him, something that provides nourishment, the thing
he needs to sound good. He is not by any means a stupid man but he has
become a boring one; he drones, he is predictable, it's never new. The
teleprompter adds substance, or at least safety.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204530504578079232194509700.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h
Obama is lucky he is still in the race considering all the screw ups in his administration.
Tammytalk, But NO Questions Taken
42 minutes ago
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