Presidential Debate 2 - Obama Lies, Romney Convinces

As debates go and debating points are added up the second Presidential debate was basically a draw. Obama was actually awake for this one which for him was a win considering his absolute dismal showing in the first debate. But setting that aside, Mitt Romney came across much more detailed and sincere as Obama rehashed the same old well used rhetoric that the country has heard in endless campaign stops since Obama took office.

Both candidates were aggressive and at times very confrontational which obviously got under Obama’s thin skin as Romney would not back down on several occasions when Obama tried to come back at him.  The post debate spin was favoring Obama just as I predicted on Monday as the left wing media understood that if Obama lost this debate the election would be basically over.

But the actual ramifications of the debate will come down to two lies that Obama was not just caught in but were blatantly delivered by Obama and at one point as Romney called Obama on the lie he tried to move the debate on to dodge the truth. While many lies and/or exaggerations were part of Obama’s debate performance the following two will haunt him until election day.

First Obama lied about oil drilling and called Romney a liar when he stated the statistical facts to which Obama walked away in aggravation.  All the numbers show Obama has decreased in some cases as much as 60% oil drilling on federal lands and nothing Obama claims can change those facts.

The second a lie that will haunt Obama the most and the moment he shot himself in the foot was his blatant lie about his response to the terrorist attack in Libya.  When Romney called him on it he tried to change the direction and subject. Even will Candy Crowley stepping in to try and save Obama as she misquoted the transcript of Obama’s statement on September 12 where she claimed as Obama did that he called it a terrorist attack, the fact that Obama lied about the response that has been well documented to be completely different than he is now claiming will be the main subject of conversation coming out of this debate.

Following the debate, Crowley corrected her misquoting of the transcript of the September 12 Rose Garden statement by Obama and said that Romney was correct and Obama did NOT refer to it as a terrorist attack as he claimed in the debate.  As more comes out about the attack even the acceptance of responsibility by Hillary Clinton will not save Obama from this possible death blow to his reelection bid.

The next debate will specifically focus on foreign policy and as Libya continues to dominate the news and hearings bring out more damning information about Obama’s response regardless of what few points he may have scored in this second debate Obama will be faced with defending his lie and the indefensible position he is now trying to take.

Across the board Obama tried to defend a record of failure but his rhetoric though scoring debate points did not sell another four years of that failure. Romney on the other hand detailed convincingly his vision and plan which will play well with voters as we approach the last three weeks before the election.

Obama did not succeed in stopping the bleeding as was proven by a focus group held during and after the debate by Frank Luntz.  25 undecided voters in Nevada watched the debate all of whom voted for Obama in 2008. After the debate they overwhelmingly gave the debate to Romney with two deciding to vote for Obama and 18 choosing Romney. Across the country the undecided vote is moving to Romney and this trend will not change as a result of debate number two, a win, win for Romney marching toward the ultimate win November 6.

Ken Taylor