Last night’s second presidential debate between President Obama and Governor Romney is what I expected at the first debate. Both Obama and Romney came out swinging and had strong moments. Obama’s performance was much more superior to his lackluster performance in Denver, which I even posited may have lost him the election. With such a strong showing this time around, did President Obama play a game of political rope-a-dope in the first debate in Denver?
It would seem to be a very risky strategy to purposefully go out to the first debate weak, lose ground in the polls, and then hope to turn it around after the second and third debates. Maybe this wasn’t intentional though. Maybe the strategy was to go out to the first debate somewhat timid, let Romney show his cards and then test the waters with Biden at the VP debate on how far you can and cannot go when you come out swinging in round two. If this wasn’t the intentional strategy, it certainly seemed that Obama’s campaign did learn a lot from the first debate and the VP debate.
While Obama did come out strong in the second debate, he didn’t come off as off putting as some thought Biden was against Paul Ryan. At the same time, Obama was strong in his responses and unforgiving to Romney anytime Romney raised a point which Obama disagreed with. Obama certainly seemed to learn a lot between the first and second debate. I liken it to a great football team making adjustments in the second half of a game. Often times those adjustments are what separates the winners from the losers.
So who won last night? I would say the debate was close to a draw with a slight edge to Obama. It seems that post debate polling agrees with that assessment though the polling results seem to give Obama a larger edge than I think he deserves. I think a lot of that edge comes from the fact that Obama did so poorly in the first debate. With such a large turnaround for him in this second debate, the upswing can easily be misconstrued as a dominating performance. Compared to Obama’s first performance, it was dominating. I’m just not sure he dominated Romney.
With that said, I am looking forward to the final debate next week. I expect both camps to come out swinging again. Depending on what adjustments each campaign makes, the last debate could set the stage for November 6th in a big way! Now… where are my binders full of women?
To those who are enamored with the free makert approach to health care access I say why not go all the way then? Let me posit the following scenario: The year is 2010, in response to not very widespread complaints that some people in America might actually be getting something for nothing, Congress springs into action. At the end of a grueling session, and in a remarkable display of bipartisanship, they emerge with the Healthcare Ultimate Responsibility Law (HURL). The legislation rescinds the long existing federal mandate that hospitals provide free care to those in need, and dismantles Medicare. It also abolishes all private health insurance, as some policy holders have been consuming a disproportionate amount of medical care in excess of what their premiums would have covered. Prior to leaving for his weekly salon session / hunting trip, President Britt Momley signs the bill into law, pronouncing it “…the final solution to the free rider problem…” Vice President Johann Moneygrubber and Secretary of Wealth and Inhumane Disservices Don Clydesdale look on in awe. Finally, free makert forces will determine the delivery of health services. Anyone wishing to see a doctor will be required to have cash on the barrelhead. Everyone’s net worth can be immediately ascertained by reading the RFID chip embedded at the base of their necks. Fools desperate enough to show up on the steps of medical institutions seeking care with no means to pay are strapped to gurneys in five point restraints and promptly, but cheaply, euthanized. Since these freeloaders would obviously have no means to pay for burial services, their useful tissues and organs are harvested to provide spare parts for the paying customers and luminaries like Paris Hilton and former Vice President Dick Cheney. The remainder of the body is burned on the premises to provide heat for the hot tubs on the liposuction unit. Many panicked Americans seeking treatment flee to the Canadian and Mexican borders only to be turned back by immigration authorities. They die in droves, providing the few remaining U.S. medical schools with a steady stream of anatomical specimens. There is not much need for doctors, with such a limited patient pool, the U.S. actually becomes the world’s largest exporter of trained physicians, and the nursing shortage that loomed so large in the early part of the decade has been resolved overnight. Surplus cadavers are collected by companies BFI and Waste Management, Inc, who in true entrepreneurial spirit have expanded their recycling operations to include corpses. No sense in burying the wretches, that’s just a waste of prime real estate! Instead, bodies are trucked off to mass incinerators where they provide the fuel to run industry. At last, a cheap source of renewable energy. Yes, it’s a new day in America, and no one is on the public dole!