2012 Presidential Debate - October 16, 2012

[Coito ergo sum]

President Barack Obama said his preparation for the second presidential debate on Tuesday was “going great” as his aides promised a more “energetic” and “aggressive” performance.
Mr Obama has seen his lead in opinion polls collapse since the first debate with Mitt Romney 10 days ago, when he was widely seen as having given a lacklustre and listless performance. Although the race remains tight, some national polls have since given Mr Romney a slight edge.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/43456d36-1620 ... z29N95gQV0

Well, I don't expect any contrived laughing, smirking and chuckling, like in the Veep debate.

Tomorrow night's debate is a "Town Hall" style debate, and it should be interesting. I think Obama wins if he can pull off a Clintonian style Town Hall debate. I think if he gets too "aggressive" he will look as if he's compensating and trying to be all "in your face." The Biden debate should should illustrate the difference, though, between a forceful, tough argument, and just being downright rude and obnoxious. Biden was the latter. If I were Obama, I would steer clear of that.

I doubt it will be a Romney landslide like last time. But, both of these guys are good, so we will probably see an enjoyable exchange.

[Ian]

From the Washington Post:

[Gerald McGrew]

It comes down to how Obama can point out Romney's falsehoods and flip-flops without coming across as being a "serial fact checker" and too aggressive. Biden got away with it because that's who he is. Obama's never been like that, so if he were to suddenly start interrupting, rolling his eyes, laughing, etc., it would come across as contrived.

[Coito ergo sum]

It comes down to how Obama can point out Romney's falsehoods and flip-flops without coming across as being a "serial fact checker" and too aggressive. Biden got away with it because that's who he is. Obama's never been like that, so if he were to suddenly start interrupting, rolling his eyes, laughing, etc., it would come across as contrived.

The thing with Biden is that he was eye rolling and laughing no matter what, and it didn't matter if he was "pointing out a falsehood" (supposedly) or merely disagreeing. Biden spouted a bunch of whoppers during his debate, but I wouldn't expect that from Obama. Obama knows that Romney has more gravitas than Ryan, and Romney will be able to clarify things like "the intelligence community never told you that there were protests over the video in Bengazi" if Obama tries to sell that line, or the one about never being asked for more security at the embassy, (both of which Biden tried to sell). Ryan didn't manage it, but Romney is better than Ryan.

[Coito ergo sum]