Presidential Throw-Down Part II

As always, I have a lot of opinions about the debate....I was surprised by how different this time was compared to the first debate. I think a lot of that could be related to Biden's display at his debate. The democrat's stepped up their game in my opinion and did a lot of good things rhetorically speaking. But I, of course, want to talk about Romney. 

Let me begin by saying that the binder full of women comment was one of the most offensive things I have ever heard a politician say. Seriously. Why? Firstly, it's a made up story. Secondly, it is completely out of touch with the lives of modern women. He made a big point of addressing women's role in the workforce in reference to their families. 

"I recognized that if you’re going to have women in the workforce that sometimes you need to be more flexible. My chief of staff, for instance, had two kids that were still in school.

She said, I can’t be here until 7 or 8 o’clock at night. I need to be able to get home at 5 o’clock so I can be there for making dinner for my kids and being with them when they get home from school. So we said fine. Let’s have a flexible schedule so you can have hours that work for you."

I am a woman. I am NOT a baby factory. I am NOT a housewife. I am a woman that desires to be taken seriously in the workforce and Romney's sexist stance masquerading as concern for equality is not winning me over.

That aside, I couldn't help but notice the two very different debate styles emerge. Obama came to this debate much stronger than the last. He answered questions with details and outlined plans. Romney didn't (although at this point we shouldn't expect anything else). 

His tactic was interesting rhetorically. He relied heavily on anecdotes. For every issue brought up there was some struggling American who had personally asked Romney for help. And he definitely wants to help them. How? Hell if I know...

I think this has something to do with relating to the average person. Romney has a hard time with that for obvious reasons. He's a very rich man and he can't just deny that. So he talks about all of these average Americans that came to him in an attempt to say, "I am not quite like you, but I can understand your concerns and fix them for you."

That's always the answer. "I can fix it". "I know what it takes to fix it." How, Mitt? What exactly is your five point plan? Now, I am a biased voter, but I do not want to totally ignore Romney. I want to know what his plans are. I want to decide if I find them valid. In fact, I haven't cast my absentee ballot yet just in case some miracle happens and I become an undecided voter again. But so far these debates have not been at all educational. 

This worked well for Romney in the first debate. In fact, rhetorically it was not all that bad of an idea. But now that fact checks have been done and Obama is more prepared is just fell apart. He needed to come with a new strategy. 

Body language was also a huge factor, especially for Obama. The first debate made his seem very standoffish and reserved. This time? Wow, the difference. He was confident. (some say arrogant, but I am inclined to think those people are stupid). We gain so much by looking at someone when they are NOT speaking. I imagine that this debate would be interesting to watch muted.