Presidential Debates: Modern Day Gladiators

George Wenschhof

 

Prior, to the Colosseum being built in Rome, Gladiators would fight in many amphitheaters across the empire, providing they would hold an audience, who would always weigh in on whether a life should be spared.

Not all gladiator fights ended with a turned thumb by the emperor.  But, there was always clearly a winner in this brutal spectator sport.

Today, Television and Internet coverage of the U.S. presidential and vice president debates result in 60 million viewers, a twenty-first century version of the Colosseum.

The debates are held to assist voters in determining the candidates they will support to hold the highest elected positions in the United States.

But, like the gladiators of ancient Rome, the debates have turned into a brutal spectator sport and hardly a trustworthy means for a voter to determine how they should cast their ballot.

The first presidential debate moderated by PBS Jim Lehrer displayed a desperate Republican Mitt Romney, who behind in the polls, was on the attack. Romney gave his best chameleon impression with statements devoid of truth, always ending his remarks with a fake quirky smile as he gazed off to the left.

All the while, President Obama absorbed the blows and instead of striking back, stayed with his message.

What followed illustrates modern day politics dominated by campaign communication directors, pundits and special interest groups. The spin room, already in operation prior to the debate, was working full bore to tell the voters what they had just witnessed.

Campaign communication directors were busy prior, during and following the debate, highlighting to the media the positives of what their candidates had said during the debate.

NBC commentator Chris Matthews; a progressive, was quick to denounce Obama for not fighting back more fiercely during the debate, citing example after example of the purported lies put forward by Romney during the debate.

Republican friendly commentators touted Romney had found his voice and was back in the race.

The spin had taken hold with progressives critical of lies from Romney, who became disappointed with the performance by Obama. Conservatives, bolstered by the spin, were giddy over a  perceived lackluster performance by the President.

Subsequent polling reflecting the spin showed a tightening of the race in the battleground states with Romney and Obama essentially tied among most likely voters nationwide.

Next up was the only vice president debate with the spin influencing the tone of the debate which resulted in a slug fest.  Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Vice President Joe Biden did not disappoint.  Biden was to Ryan what Romney had been to Obama in the first presidential debate. 

Now, the spin masters are in full force and effect once again prior to the second of three presidential debates on October 16.  This debate will be a town hall forum with questions from undecided voters.

The candidate campaign staffs are now in a dizzy over the possibility moderator Candy Crowley of CNN may deviate from the agreed upon format and actually ask a follow up question, instead of merely serving as a prop for the questioners.

As the debate nears, Progressives and Conservatives are thirsting to see their candidate dominate the other in this debate.

Three presidential and one vice president debates in the month of October, prior to the November 6 election is one way to assist voters in determining their choice.

Democracy isn’t easy. But, unlimited campaign spending and the current presidential debate format leaves one longing for a better way.

We can do better.

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Why Romney Won’t Win

George Wenschhof

The number one reason why Mitt Romney will not be victorious on November 6 is he and Republicans just don’t get it.

With, an unemployment rate exceeding eight per cent during the term of President Obama, one would think voters would be clamoring for a change.  After all, no President since the Great Depression has been reelected with such a high unemployment rate.

But, the best Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and the Republican Party can do is criticize the President and Democrats, while promoting the same old tired Republican refrain of less taxes and less government.

Instead, what voters want is good government, one that reflects a cooperative nature, is responsive and also effective.

People clearly see the obstructionist actions taken by Republicans in Congress over the past three and one-half years, all designed with one purpose in mind; make President Obama fail.

No effort was made by Republican members in Congress to work together to move the country forward during President Obama’s term in office.  Instead, from the beginning, it was a struggle to pass a much needed stimulus bill to put Americans to work, as Republican members of Congress diluted the proposed funding of the bill by close to fifty per cent.

Conveniently, Republicans fail to mention why a stimulus was needed.  After, years of government deregulation of the financial industry and irresponsible economic decisions on Wall Street driven by greed, the worst economic collapse in America since the Great Depression unfolded.  But, I’ll get back to this issue in a moment. 

What followed Republican obstruction against the stimulus bill was an all out assault against providing Americans with affordable health care.  A basic individual right recognized and provided by every other developed nation in the world.

Instead of recognizing a country moves forward with a healthy citizenry, Republicans fought as strong a battle as they could muster to deny affordable preventative health maintenance, coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions, the right for parents to cover their children with their insurance through the age of twenty-six and more.

Republicans were able to scuttle the single payer and public option, which made the most sense, then opposed passage of the Affordable Care Act with the so called individual mandate, which will result in health care coverage for 30 million uninsured Americans by 2014.

Next up for the Obama administration was financial reform.  You would think after Wall Street tycoons illustrated their total disregard to any sensible financial practice, while pocketing millions for themselves, Republicans would be eager to join an effort to reform and strengthen a financial institution teetering on the precipice of total collapse.

Instead, Republicans, aided by Wall Street Lobbyists, fought to dilute the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform bill.  Stripped from the bill was the much needed reinstitution of the Glass-Steagall Act and a watered down version of the Volcker rule, both designed to ensure financial institution stability.

Republicans even delayed the start of the Financial Consumer Protection Agency, an agency created by the Dodd-Frank bill to protect consumers against the predatory actions taken by credit card issuers and others.

The main reason Republicans delayed the implementation was they did not like Elizabeth Warren, who championed the creation of the consumer finance protection agency and was in line to be nominated to run it. 

The agency is now up and running, under the direction of another individual and Elizabeth Warren is now a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Where, she is likely to beat incumbent Republican Scott Brown and pick up a Senate seat for Democrats.

Now, with the election less than two months away, Republicans want to point at a national unemployment rate over eight per cent as a reason to not vote for Obama.  Yet, for the past year Republicans have filibustered in the Senate, blocking approval of the Americans Jobs bill promoted by the Obama administration and estimated to create up to one million jobs across the country.

On foreign policy, Republicans are also mute, with Mitt Romney not even giving the war in Afghanistan any credible mention in his party nomination acceptance speech in Tampa a week ago.

Perhaps, it was because in President Obama’s first term, he ended the U.S. involvement in the Iraq war and has a credible plan in place to end U.S. involvement in the war in Afghanistan by 2014.

Instead, of congratulating the presidential order resulting in the death of the number one terrorist in the world, Osama bin Laden, Republicans sought to focus on leaks to the press on the operation.

Recognizing old conventional styled wars followed by years of nation building do not work, President Obama also effectively implemented the use of special ops and Drones.  This strategy has limited the loss of American lives while eliminating and disrupting the Al-Qaeda terrorist network across the globe.

In addition, instead of working together to reduce the national debt, resulting from previous Republican and Democratic administrations, any attempt to forge a bipartisan agreement was stymied by Republican members of Congress.

When the bipartisan debt reduction committee appointed by President Obama offered their proposal, it was Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) who led the effort to defeat it. 

When you look at the accomplishments achieved by the Obama administration over the first term, it is incredible so much progress has been made in so many areas when Republicans have done nothing but try to stop any program or action which was proposed.

It is not surprising, with eight weeks to go to the November 6 election, President Obama leads Mitt Romney (Real Clear Politics averaging) in the all important electoral vote 221-191.  To win the presidency, a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes.

In the ten swing states that make up the remaining 126 electoral votes, Obama is currently leading in nine of them.  Romney leads in only North Carolina, while Obama leads in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, Michigan, Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire.

 

You see, it is not that Americans want less tax and less government as Republicans continue to promote, it is they want reasonable and effective government.

 

Interestingly, Henry Ford, who founded the Ford Motor Company, understood a basic fundamental aspect of economics.  He recognized if he paid his workers well, not only would they stay to work with his company to produce more automobiles; they would also be able to buy one of the cars his company was producing.

 

Governing on behalf of the wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle class, as Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Republicans continue to promote, is not what this country needs.

Failing to offer details on any proposed domestic or foreign policy initiative and the lack of willingness to display a cooperative approach further illustrates why Romney won’t win in November.

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