Why Romney Will Win The Debates

Mitt Romney will win the debates. Is that hard to believe? Perhaps — if you buy into the Left’s narrative of Obama’s considerable oral skills. And establishment Republicans, cowards that they are, are twitching with anxiety. But don’t fall into the hysteria. Romney will win the debates. He doesn’t even have to be exceptional. A reasonable effort will do the trick.

The Left would have you believe that Obama possesses incomparable personal presence. He can’t govern worth a damn but wow, he’s a swell guy. And what a communicator. That’s the narrative anyway. The reality is a wee bit different. Sure, Obama is skilled with delivering a speech or reading remarks from a teleprompter. It is when Obama needs to ad-lib, when he is forced to make cohesive remarks on the fly, that his weakness shows. It’s understandable. The vast majority of communication done by any politician is through prepared remarks, so that presentation style is practiced rigorously. A political speech, although it may be conducted before a live audience, is really a highly choreographed event.

Contrast this with the stand-up comedian, for example, that addresses a diverse, live crowd as a way of life. Successful comedians must be able to “think on their feet”. The stand-up comic must be skilled with the ad-lib or the career is finished. What stand-up comedian can rise to the top if he or she can’t efficiently put a heckler in place with a one-liner and continue with the show?

Obama may be a joke but he is no comedian. He is trained to give speeches not to ad-lib on the fly. Obama is far from eloquent when left on his own. Unfortunately, most of these errors are hidden from the public by the Obama-loving media. During the debates, however, no such conspiracy is possible.

Recently, because of remarks he made during an interview with 60 Minutes, Obama has taken a few shots to the chin. Rightfully so, as he called the disastrous events in Libya “bumps in the road” and equated Israel’s pleadings for help against Iran as background “noise.”

Then there was that glorious day in July, addressing a crowd in Virginia, when Obama said “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

At a Memorial Day ceremony, discussing the nation’s fallen heroes, Obama said, “I see many of them in the audience here today.”

He once stated the Constitution was written “20 centuries ago” and to a small gathering in Oregon, he said “I’ve now been in 57 states, I think one left to go.” (Continued)

During an interview on ABC’s This Week, he said, “What I was suggesting — you’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith.”

There was, “Hold on one second, sweetie,” to a female reporter and “countries like Europe” and he wants “to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of privacy.”

And finally, strolling in front of a live crowd, Obama went off script and attempted to sell Obama-care with,

And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah…

Here is that gem in its full glory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxxxGUeZtno

Clearly, everyone makes mistakes. Just as obvious is that when you speak as much as a politician the mistakes can add up quickly. Worse, they can be compiled into a list and used against you by conservative bloggers.

That Obama can be a fish out of water with asides and on the ad-lib is only part of the point. His political philosophy, being contrary to that of most Americans, will hamstring him, too. His “spreading the wealth” exchange with Joe the plumber is an example, as is “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”

Obama is in a tight vice. He is trapped in the present. Almost his entire past, both personal and professional, is taboo. Obama is still somewhat popular only because many Americans pay little attention to the details of politics. Any unpopularity Obama has with these folks is because of political generalities — the economy, or Obama-care or immigration. The history of his first presidential term is bad enough. Imagine the ramifications if his secret personal past was allowed to surface to a live, national audience — his re-election bid could end that night.

His plans for the future too, are mostly off limits. They have to be. If he communicates to the casual political follower his true plans for America, it would be political suicide. As determined as the Left-leaning media is to sell it, hard-Left political outlooks are still held only by a minority of American voters. Tell the California surfer, oblivious of day-to-day politics, that it is your plan to continue to humble America and erode the Constitution and you will lose that vote. Inform American Idol-loving Amanda that you plan on continuing to strangle industry or that your goal is to help usher in the New World Order and you will lose her vote. Only the most artful, seasoned and confident orator would attempt such a high risk proposition within a live environment. Obama, as egotistical and narcissistic as they come, may possess the reckless confidence to try it but without a teleprompter, he lacks the skill to pull it off.

And let’s not forget, there are three debates. That is a lot of unscripted exposure. So try as he will to conceal his beliefs, because at his core he is hard-Left, Obama is almost guaranteed to issue a comment that, from the perspective of liberal-socialism rings the bell, but will be heard by most Americans as a sour note.

Romney, like Obama and any other politician, is subject to the same principle — he can slit his own throat if he is not careful. But, as his pedestrian campaign has demonstrated, Romney is careful. However, he is not perfect so he is likely to make mistakes, too. But because he holds more traditional political views, his mistakes are likely to be interpreted like a singer’s poor presentation of the national anthem. It needs some work but the voter recognizes the song and gives credit for the effort.

A live debate presents a sizable challenge for any politician. But for one that must hide his past and skillfully spin his future plans, they are herculean. Because he is stuck in the present, Obama’s debate tactics will be reduced to attacks against Romney or putting forth outright lies. One tactic will grow old quickly and the other is exceedingly dangerous within a society that has a speed-of-light ability to set the record straight.

The Left-loving media will help Obama with soft questions, heavily slanted headlines and article after article of walk-backs and clarifications. But will that be enough? Probably not. The problem for Obama and the Left is that after the debates, the casual political follower returns to just that — a casual political follower. The walk-backs and clarifications will be missed by these people because they will tune back out – but after the damage has been done.

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