Wednesday Night Videos – Debate Highlights

Life has kept me away from the laptop more than usual of late, but somehow the web does fine without me. Still, I look forward to a calmer life in a week or two, with more time to reflect and connect on issues of politics and pop culture. (I’m tragically behind on the new season of Modern Family already.) I hope you are all doing well!

I do have one main thought on last night’s debate between President Barack Obama and Mittens the former Guvnor of Massachusetts. Yes, it was definitely a win for the president. But it was also a win for the more forceful progressive side of the Democratic party.

More of this, please…

It’s not that Obama’s agenda is particularly progressive in itself. It’s certainly to the left of Romney, and the fact that Democrats do better when they provide coherent unapologetic explanations is something that the Howard Dean wing of the party has been arguing incessantly. (And one reason why the 2008 election was so much more successful for Democrats than the 2010 election.) Obama’s first debate performance struck me as partially a result of the Rahm Emmanuel “please-don’t-offend-the-right-wing-media!” side of the party. Yes, I understand the President is laboring under a racist double standard where he has to avoid being labelled as a so-called angry black man. But racist conservative (and centrist) pricks aren’t going to vote for him no matter how nice he is.

And he has GOT to stop giving Republicans the benefit of the doubt! Make your case, get what you can get, and don’t expect the other side to be reasonable.

Take the myths head-on, as you did in your closing statement…

It was super-smart to address Romney’s 47% comment in the closing statement, where it could make an impact, but prevent Romney from spinning away from it.

Other favorite moments include Obama calling out Romney for investing money in China while pretending that he’s going to get tough with them…

Mittens then tried to argue pensions, and Obama’s humorous comparison of their respective pension sizes was the perfect way of pointing out that Romney approach is very removed from that of everyday people…

As Atrios points out, Romney’s story about reaching out to find qualified women to hold high office is a defense of Affirmative Action…

Or, it would have been, if Romney weren’t lying about what happened.

And, of course, there was Romney screwing up the facts on Obama’s response to the attack in Libya…

It’s a short-term victory, sure, but an attitude and strategy that can reap long-term benefits.