As I watch the debate for a second time, with the sound turned on for the middle half

**Carol** · 10-04-2012, 02:58 AM

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rufus dog (4,802 posts)

As I watch the debate for a second time, with the sound turned on for the middle half

I see something a bit different. Obama seldomly engages Romney, much more time/eye contact with Jim Lehrer and directly with the camera. I do this quite often in meetings with people who I have no respect for and am planning on dropping a bomb on.

Let them have their say, let them state their case, then just pummel them with reality.

If you do it early people believe you are picking on them and have an axe to grind. If you allow them to make their case then kick there ass you have a much greater buy in.

Interesting. So Obama has gone from middle finger, cheek scratching to little eye contact to show his disrespect of his opponent. Somehow I'm not surprised.

**Elspeth** · 10-04-2012, 03:38 AM

Originally Posted by Carol

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Interesting. So Obama has gone from middle finger, cheek scratching to little eye contact to show his disrespect of his opponent. Somehow I'm not surprised.

Methinks Obama was too damned arrogant to think he even had to prepare for the debate. His lack of eye contact could either have been that arrogance or the fear when he realized that he should have prepared.

**djones520** · 10-04-2012, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by Elspeth

Methinks Obama was too damned arrogant to think he even had to prepare for the debate. His lack of eye contact could either have been that arrogance or the fear when he realized that he should have prepared.

Well he better have been preparing, since he used that as an excuse to not do his job as President.

**Odysseus** · 10-04-2012, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by Elspeth

Methinks Obama was too damned arrogant to think he even had to prepare for the debate. His lack of eye contact could either have been that arrogance or the fear when he realized that he should have prepared.

No, Obama was prepped, but Romney has been debating his record in the primaries, and more importantly, he has actually done the things that he talked about. Obama was going off of a script (Romney was, too, but he wrote most of it), and when he lost the thread, he became flustered and stammered. His lack of eye contact was defensiveness. He cannot run on his record and has to obscure it. He cannot run on Romney's record, because it is a string of successes, so his strategy was failing him and he knew it.

The next debate is going to be much more intense. Obama has to score a knockout, or he will be toast, so he is going to double-down on his strategy of demonizing Romney, but it will not work. Romney came off as informed, passionate and decent. He's not the ogre that the media is trying to present. Obama came off as defensive, unfocused and weaker. He's not the stellar statesman that the media is trying to present. The winner last night was Romney, and the losers were Obama and the mainstream media, which couldn't protect him.

**Gina** · 10-04-2012, 10:05 AM

**FlaGator** · 10-04-2012, 10:27 AM

Rufus dog made that whole thing up. A person doesn't not make I contact for several reasons and none of them have to do with having no respect for the other person. It is usually an unconscious behavior of submission or an unconscious effort to hide something. To have no respect for someone is to be fearless in staring them down.

These are generalizations of course but I think they hold more water than the "I don't respect them" excuse. The OP is trying to make the other DUers fell better about Obama's disappointing performance.