Debatable?

(from Twitter)

I watched the first debate.  I suppose what we all hope for one of those moments. A true game changing moment or the final blow so we can end all this.  I thought I would first do something like report on the debates, but not on this one but the famous debates of Lincoln and Douglas who were running for the Illinois Senate.  While they were important, they read like most debates, and we cannot actually know what they sounded or looked like.  We only know that Douglas received the much wanted Whig endorsement and that the debates centered on slavery and they gave us L-D debates for speech teams in high schools across America.

All I know is after about twenty minutes in my wife's eyes and my eyes had glazed over, and it became a struggle to stay focused.

Obama the orator didn't show up.  Nobody knows why.  The person on stage appeared distracted and seeming to not really want to challenge his opponent.  Perhaps he had taken the "do no harm" idea to heart or maybe he was afraid of what Fox News has called the "angry black man" or maybe as Ronald Reagan put it that after hearing "Hail to the Chief" for four years, the POTUS  just didn't feel like debating.  We shall never really know, at least until someone in the campaign writes a book. His performance though made his opponent's look stellar by comparison. The information he presented was a bit difficult to follow but that could be because I kept drifting in an out of consciousness.  He lost the debate on style..or lack there of.

I did like the one suggestion on Twitter that instead of a debate, perhaps we should have a dance off...

Then there was the Other Mitt.  Like Obama, I don't know who that was on the stage.  I think we finally had that etch-a-sketch moment.  One of the things being retired has allowed me to do is watch a lot of the campaign speeches (political wonk..remember).  The plans the Other Mitt presented were not the ones that I've watched his doppelganger  present in interviews and stump speeches.  He has no tax cut proposal that will cut taxes on the rich or raise taxes on the middle class says the Other Mitt. I'm going to cut everyone's taxes across the board by 20 percent said the Mitt I was used to seeing.  I love teachers says the Other Mitt.  Didn't Obama get the message from here in Milwaukee?  We don't need more teachers and firefighters, said the Mitt I am used to seeing on the campaign stump. I am going to repeal Obama Care but my plan will cover... says Other Mitt.  The guy having a heart attack in his apartment can call an ambulance and go to the emergency room if he doesn't have insurance said the Mitt I am used to seeing on 60 Minutes. 

Who was this guy? Where was Obama?  What was the homework Obama had to do in Vegas and why didn't he use it?  And most importantly, where were the well rehearsed  zingers the Other Mitt was suppose to use?

This debate was a little like some Christmases or parties or movies; the anticipation -the hype- just outshines the event or the moment.  No, sometimes we want to see the debates like we see in the movies or that moment when Michael Douglas stands up and announces in The American President, "This is a time for serious people, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up. My name is Andrew Shepherd, and I *am* the President. " Sadly, it will not happen.

So all we can do now is try to wake Jim Lehrer and save Big Bird...