The Second Presidential Debate

Two down...one to go. Presidential debates, that is. And after last night, I'm really not looking forward to the third debate. Why? They're not debates. The debates, and last night's second one in particular, have become theatre....bad theatre. There are no serious exchanges of facts or opinions or programs. There are only crouching pauses by President Obama while Governor Romney talks, with the President waiting to pounce on the smallest factual mis-speak or to attack by suggesting that Mitt Romney is deliberately lying or providing misleading position summaries. Numbers and statistics become meaningless because they are systematically dismissed by the President as lies. And, while he is dismissing Romney's presentations, the President is not able to provide numbers or statistics to show that his term as President has been positive. He did not even argue with the following -- 23 million unemployed and under-employed Americans, 3.5 million more women unemployed today than when Obama was elected, middle class incomes shrunk by $4000/year during the last four years while health care costs have increased by $2500/year, 47 million Americans on food stamps, 1 in 6 Americans poor using government definitions of poverty, $6 trillion added to the national debt during Obama's term (1/3 of the entire national debt has been created by Obama), a $1 trillion budget deficit each year of Obama's term. President Obama's answer to that damning condemnation of his stewardship was: "we've been through some hard times the last four years." Now, dear readers, you know that I support Governor Romney. Last night did not change my position, rather it re-enforced it. Barak Obama may be glib, he may have a pleasant public demeanor, he may want to do good things for America. But the sad truth is that he has failed. Failed on every front. He has no explanation for his dismal failure during his first term and no program for doing better in a second term. Although I have heard no one talk about it today, Mr. Obama subconsciously admitted that he thinks he is finished when, in answer to a Romney question about the future, the President said: "People will say that when I was President..."