That’s right Mitt! Ol’ chap. Ol’ boy. Smile away! You deserve it. And chalk a victory to the CEOs in constant struggle in debate circles when CEOs and Professors debate each other. Well that is stretching it (and how loopy is a CEO vs. Professor constant debate struggle, eh?). Nevertheless Mitt Romney channeled some CEO Fire to extinguish Professor Barack Obama’s measured intensity-like-stuff.
I watched this debate not for the policy discussion since both Obama and Romney have plans that aren’t visionary enough in my opinion. And being a hardcore third party guy does give me a level of detachment in these things (not saying I’m better than anyone because of that detachment so don’t get it twisted). I watched this debate for the pure and simple optics. Who looked like they wanted it? Who looked like they were commanding things? Who looked like they was affecting the other to their gain? Etc. And by and large, CEO Mitt Romney won the optics battle.
Optics is a powerful thing. Someone can be hitting on all the right points. Have their facts together. And still look bad, defeated, uninterested. When I was in my black nationalist days, we knew the power of optics. We’d dress all paramilitary-like. Kind of like the S1Ws of Public Enemy fame:
Let me tell you, we scared a good many folks in those times. Twenty of us would frequently get described as one hundred. All optics and bluster. Good times yet very misguided. While Candidate Romney didn’t go S1W on President Obama, he did flip his political script and heavily dosed it with CEO fire to express his WANT OF THE OFFICE. He looked at President Obama. Got animated and demonstrative. Appeared to go over time due to passion. And even though he did a big ol’ Etch-A-Sketch, it worked due to the CEO fire routine. President Obama’s “Mr. Measured” and trying to be Presidential fell flat last night. President Obama did not change any positions unlike Candidate Romney (which is a whole other topic). But his delivery of those positions came off flat, and I hate this word, wonky. And many times, wonky just doesn’t resonate with bread and butter voters. But good ol’ fire does.
This is, and has always been to me, a 50/50 race from a popular vote perspective. The electoral college does look more uphill for Romney and one debate performance does not change that. But this gives Team Romney an extra tank of fuel to go out on the campaign trail and rub it in on Team Obama. Green times for Team Romney right now.
But I also think Romney left himself wide open to another kind of attack: the “you just changed yet again” attack. Romney, and I’m just laughing to myself, just unabashedly flipped to go more moderate. I don’t necessarily get bent out of shape when a politician “flip-flops”. But that Romney, ol’ CEO Mitt Romney went almost epic on it. He has serious brass for doing that and always commend those with the brass. But one thing President Obama is not is stupid. Debate #2 will be MIGHTY INTERESTING.
“CEO Fire” term borrowed from my conservative neighbor Country Boy Jay (his words).
I’m not complex. Don’t have time for all that. And all that complex stuff bad for the stomach. Just color me simple and plain with a twist.