Mitt's Hubris Shows Through in Town Hall Debate
Jules Witcover

The focus on style over substance in this fall's presidential campaign debates has been an evident and disturbing aspect for voters hungering for more enlightment on the candidates' positions.

The emphasis, at least in the debate analyses, began with President Obama's energy-deficient performance in the first one, and it continued with Vice President Joe Biden's grins and guffaws in his one match with Rep. Paul Ryan. Then, in the second presidential debate, the prizefight atmosphere and candidates' body language drew much of the attention in the assessments of the news media judges.

In this era of near-instant fact checking of contenders' statements, there was also notable focus on who was telling the truth and who was stretching it. In a rare on-the-spot ruling, moderator Candy Crowley of CNN called Romney on a blow below the belt, noting he was wrong in his heated exchange with Obama over who said what about the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi.

When Romney asserted that the president had not called the attack a terrorist act until two weeks after it happened, Crowley confirmed Obama's claim that he had done so on the following day in the White House Rose Garden. Obama, not surprisingly, welcomed the intervention from the moderator.

Crowley was immediately assailed by the Romney camp for taking the president's side, although she was merely affirming a fact -- and, at the same time, taking note of Romney's reference to the president's later comments on the affair. More telling was Romney's attempt to dominate the scene with a CEO's insistence on being in control, even in a debate with the president of the United States.

Whether he was arguing that it was his turn to speak, bullying the moderator for more time to answer a question, or rudely pressing Obama to respond at once to a query from him, Romney displayed a degree of hubris more suited for a running a corporate board meeting.

In contrast to his acquiescent attitude in the first debate, the president held his ground and made little effort to masquerade his irritation. As many commentators later observed, the confrontation made for great television theater, to which the event seemed at times to descend.

Left insufficiently clarified in all the smoke and mirrors was how either candidate planned specifically to end the economic stalemate, which has Obama fighting for re-election and which Romney is hoping to parlay into winning the presidency.

Obama again concentrated on how he has persevered, digging his way out of the mess he inherited. He also challenged the math of Romney's promise to reduce the deficit while continuing tax breaks for the rich and boosting defense spending.

Romney, meanwhile, again relied on his businessman-knows-best assurances that he alone could right the economy, citing the bipartisanship that worked when he was governor of Massachusetts but that has been denied Obama by Republicans in Congress.

One of the anticipated outcomes of the debate's town hall format was that direct questioning from real undecided voters would test both candidates' empathy. However, the citizens' involvement appeared to have little effect; the candidates either ignored their questions or used them as a pivot to whatever topic they preferred to talk about, to one-up the other.

When one young woman asked about pay inequity, Obama cited his bill supporting it. Romney talked instead about his quest to hire more women for his office as governor. Another citizen questioner asked Romney how he and his policies differed from the previous Republican president, sending him running for cover. He said he and George W. Bush "are different people and these are different times," and then segued into his five-point plan for recovery.

But Obama argued that both Romney and Bush relied on tax cuts as the answer. The president suggested amusingly that Romney was worse, because Bush never advocated "self-deportation" of illegal immigrants or an end to Planned Parenthood, as Romney had done. For all of Romney's assertiveness Thursday night, Obama could thank the town hall format for handing him the chance to get the last laugh.

 

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Mitt's Hubris Shows Through in Town Hall Debate | Politics

 

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