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How Barack Obama threaded the town hall needle and got America to be outraged at Mitt Romney
I was a little concerned going into last night’s presidential debate. Not because I was worried that the President Obama that I know and trust wouldn’t show up. I was confident about that. I was concerned that the town hall debate format wouldn’t allow him to be as effective as he needed to be at pushing back against Mitt Romney’s incessant lying. We all wanted him to, and I predicted that he would, go on the attack much in the same way Vice President Biden did against Paul Ryan last week. But town hall debates are notorious for penalizing aggressive, attack-style approaches. Just ask Al Gore or George H. W. Bush about that.
I needn’t have worried. Just like Joe Biden invented a new way to debate liars last week, President Obama figured out a way to go on the attack in a way that seemed compassionate and strong at the same time without coming across as too aggressive. How did he do this? By being angry, and helping the audience to be angry, that his opponent wasn’t compassionate.
He did it when it comes to tax fairness.
He did it with regard to the rescue of our domestic vehicle manufacturers.
He did it when it comes to immigration.
He did it with regard to China.
He most certainly did it with regard to the War on Women. And when Mitt Romney was tripping all over himself, talking about his “binders full of women”, President Obama deftly got out of the way and let him fall flat on his face.
I needn’t have worried. Just like Joe Biden invented a new way to debate liars last week, President Obama figured out a way to go on the attack in a way that seemed compassionate and strong at the same time without coming across as too aggressive. How did he do this? By being angry, and helping the audience to be angry, that his opponent wasn’t compassionate.
He did it when it comes to tax fairness.
He did it with regard to the rescue of our domestic vehicle manufacturers.
He did it when it comes to immigration.
He did it with regard to China.
He most certainly did it with regard to the War on Women. And when Mitt Romney was tripping all over himself, talking about his “binders full of women”, President Obama deftly got out of the way and let him fall flat on his face.
MUCH MORE...
http://www.eclectablog.com/2012/10/how-barack-obama-threaded-the-town-hall-needle-and-got-america-to-be-outraged-at-mitt-romney.html
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