No debating: Romney rolled!
Mitt always was a smooth talker. Last night he combined that
gift with gusto and confidence. It mattered not that most of what he was saying
was flagrantly incorrect, unsupported by history or facts. What mattered was
that he said it with such conviction that "on the fence" voters who
don't pay that close attention to the nitty gritty detail of policy will
believe it. What mattered even more was that President Obama basically let the
errors stand unchallenged.
That's where the "debate" part of a debate comes
in. One side makes statements and claims and it is up to the other side to
challenge, correct and offer a higher standard of truth on the issue presented.
President Obama sounded professorial and was technically correct. But on the
big he went small. Check that...ABSENT.
Romney kept repeating the infamous lie that Obamacare will
cut $716 billion from Medicare for seniors. Where was Obama's stinging rebuke?
ABSENT, shockingly nothing but silence.
Romney kept lambasting the power of the federal government
to do, well, basically anything. Well, anything but running a huge war
machine--he wants to ADD $2 TRILLION, to the military's budget. TWO-TRILLION!
Yet where was the President on repeating the long, over 200+ year history of
the proven power of the federal government to help order this great nation's
affairs, in helping create the world's greatest standard of living for the
greatest amount of people--the vaunted MIDDLE CLASS--and thereby creating what
most Americans take pride in as the beacon for the world to follow? Where?
Where? Where was the lead standard-bearer and truth-teller of our nation's rich
heritage of successful collective action through the federal government of the
United States of America? ABSENT,
shockingly absent.
Obama even said that their positions on Social Security were
about the same. Let's hope not! For starters Romney wants to raise the
retirement age and lower benefits for those under 55. The fuller picture is
that he is part of the Republican machine that wants to privatize it.
At least Obama stood his (our) ground on Medicare, drawing a
sharp line between Romney's voucher plan, which is basically privatization.
But again, he missed a HUGE opportunity to stand for
America's absolute dependence on a strong federal government. When Romney said he wanted the states to be
free to deliver medical care and adopt the system he helped usher in
Massachusetts when he was governor Obama should have stated the obvious: the states have HAD that opportunity for a
millennium, but for whatever reason they do not or cannot act. The ultimate and primary defender of not only
people’s individual, Constitutional rights but also the services and safety net
so many people need for their daily existence is…THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. It’s been that way forever.
Power in numbers, power in unity, power in collective action
for the greater good. That’s the truth President Obama should
have repeated over and over and over.
Something’s up, for Obama is too sharp to miss such
opportunities unintentionally. Maybe he
really does agree with Romney and the Republicans for the most part. Maybe that is why there was no fight for real financial reform. Maybe that is why there was no move to end
the Bush tax cuts for the highest income group early in his presidency. Maybe that is why he accepted quarter
measures in Obamacare (still, much better than nothing).
Maybe that is the real Obama—a left-centrist social liberal and
right-centrist fiscal conservative.
Perhaps it was too audacious, but we had hoped for more.
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