I could be spending those 88 minutes watching the timeless Pacino classic, 88 Minutes.
It's fascinating that debates during election season typically last an hour-and-a-half and debate summations on television usually focus on one or two minutes of actual substance. It's almost like SportsCenter...you can somewhat get the gist of a Patriots' game by watching condensed highlights but the story told throughout those three hours is largely missed. SportsCenter condenses highlights for the sake of time; they have roughly 14 NFL games and a plethora of other highlights/stories to address in a limited amount of time. CNN, FoxNews and MSNBC have an abundant amount of time to address ONE 90-minute discussion, yet they often spend entire programs analyzing segments that are already the most widely discussed facets of said event. Objective journalism and hegemony at its finest, I suppose
As for my take on the debate...let's keep this brief and focused on what everyone else has already thoroughly analyzed:
1. Overall Strategy: After an emphatically-criticized first appearance that was inevitably blown way out of proportion, Obama came back and flipped the tables on Mr. Mitt. Romney ended up on the defensive for a good portion of the evening, and Mitt is not very good at defending his "positions" and his past without sounding like a complete jackass. Obama also chose to actually address his opponents fabrications this time around, instead of letting Mormon Mitt lie his way to a train-wreck Presidency and the millions he seeks to make from subsequent book deals and appearances.
2. Substance: The world will end long before politicians actually tell you what they're going to do/what they have actually done. Statistics are somehow muddled and misleading in debates. Last Thursday on The Colbert Report, Stephen dedicated a segment to compiling an unfathomable list of all the tedious things Romney has promised to accomplish "on Day 1" of his Presidency. If this sounds familiar it's because Barack did the same thing four years ago. As I've come to learn through stupid research on stupid Presidential rhetoric, this time of year can be simply described as a power struggle (the next four years can also be considered a power struggle, soon followed by another power struggle). However insincere and ambiguous Presidential debate rhetoric may be, Obama at least comes off as concerned and genuine when standing beside Romney, especially in the town-hall format.
3. Gaffes:
- The obvious one is Romney getting fact-checked by Obama and Candy Crowley in regards to how the President addressed the "acts of terror" in Libya just over a month ago. Romney has been made to look a fool, despite the fact that he may have actually had a point. However, the debate over this issue demonstrates Obama's savvy and experience as a politician. The way he phrased his speech on Libya left himself a little breathing room in anticipating that the reality of what occurred would eventually clear up.
- You can only partially blame Romney for sounding like an idiot in that moment...his advisers absolutely told him to attack on that point when it was brought up...he probably could've had a better plan of attack, though.
- Romney seems ashamed of his plan to provide the wealthy with tax-cuts...that's your plan dude...its a relatively effective policy when combined with other appropriate policies and a little bit of luck. More money for the wealthy isn't necessarily dependent on trickle-down economics, it could also anticipate an increase in investment risk-taking and provide some sort of technological/conceptual breakthrough. Don't be ashamed of who you are, Willard.
4. The Women's: I think the percentage of young women voting for Romney will be lower than the percentage of African Americans voting for Romney...reaaallly dug yourself a hole there, Mitt.
Summary: I'm keeping this post short because I don't think anyone reads it anyways. Also, I never really got into the last debate. I think most of America has grown tired with campaigning...this will likely be a trend for all future elections of my lifetime. This shit begins so early and is so in-your-face, its nearly impossible to not be annoyed by it. The layered complexity in determining what a candidate actually will do/has done is absurdity. I usually just laugh at politicking, but taking multiple classes dedicated to political analysis has forced me to become consistently engulfed. As I gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into me. I cannot wait for this shit to be over...
Notes: I should probably start smoking weed again...
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