Presidential Debate 2012: Round 1

The first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama was last night. This morning, most media spun the event as a big win for Romney.  I read statements describing Obama as ‘bored’, ‘disengaged’, ‘unprepared’, ‘uninformed’,  Tom Brokaw (not known for his conservative bias) went as far to say if Romney had delivered a performance as bad as Obama, the race would be over. 

I watched the first half of the debate, and then turned it off because I thought Romney was going down in flames.  What did I miss?  I went back and watched the replay again to find out. I still don’t see it. Romney stumbled into a few opportunities to clarify his positions, which some apparently feel was a first. But I just didn’t see the ‘trouncing’ that the media seems to be characterizing this as. To me, Obama came across as confident in his plans, proud of his positions, and determined to paint Romney as a rich guy that only wanted to help rich people, and a guy with big headlines and no substance.  He didn’t stumble over his words, didn’t appear defensive, didn’t appear ‘outraged’ over being challenged the way he is being painted by his opponents.  So what did everyone else see that I didn’t?

Upon further examination, I did notice a feature of the debate that may have been a factor.  Applause was not allowed. No big showy ovations of support (ala the State of the Union address under any president), no laugh tracks, no hand-picked attentive models casting pre-calculated levels of pensiveness and nodding knowingly at the appropriate times.  TV executives spend a lot of time architecting a televised event to convey the emotions they want to solicit. For performers, they show you beautiful people in the front 2 rows, dancing and having the best time of their lives.  For athletic contests, we see sexy cheerleaders and over-the-top fans that will dye their hair, skin and clothes to show that this is the most important event of their lives. And for dramas, of course, they pay millions to experts to get the lighting, camera angles, mood music and ‘extras’ to usher in the exact emotion we the viewers are supposed to be feeling. 

But this was raw monologue. Contrast it to the party conventions we saw last month, in which delegates gushed uninhibitedly at every syllable uttered by their respective saviors.  Policies haven’t changed, but they don’t come across the same when you don’t have adoring throngs to convince people how profound your ideas are, how sharp your wit is, and how lofty your intellect has become.   It’s like seeing models without their makeup.  Maybe that was the X factor of this debate. If so, Romney better have something else prepared for the next one because it won’t be new next time.