I am sure a lot of us stayed up last night to watch the U.S Presidential debate.
Far from pundits predictions, Obama went from cool to cold. Sometimes stuttering, sometimes unsure and most times, appearing distracted. Above pundits predictions, the challenger, Mitt Romney, came from weeks of avoidable gaffes to even the tide.
At first fearful and fidgety but obviously alert and passionate; Romney threw the punches and Obama merely gave weak defences, essentially playing the cautious incumbent and the cool dude who is higher on the likeability index. But on a night when guts rather than a calm mien mattered, Obama fell flat.
So what are the lessons here?
1. WHEN YOU ARE ON TOP, RIDE THE TIDE
As a incumbent with a higher opinion poll rating, caution may be needed sometimes but Obama needed to ride the tide by throwing all he's got in the contest when it mattered most. Obama missed it here. Obama played cautious while Romney played the role of a confident challenger.
2. ITS ALL ABOUT GUTS AND PASSION NOT FACTS
In a presentation as in a debate, facts are not often sacred, all that matters is connection and the only way to earn that, is to show you've guts and are passionate enough to get things going. Romney played this to his advantage. Of course as the fact-checker started to ring the bells this morning, a lot of the statistics Romney banded were not adding up, but that really did not matter last night as Romney already carried the day.
3. ALWAY FLAG YOUR POINTS WITH NUMBERS OR NON-VERBAL CUES TO CARRY ALONG YOUR AUDIENCE
While Obama went lyrical about his tax plans and the edge Obamacare will deliver to patients with pre-existing conditions, Romney countered by flagging his points, highlighting what his positions against Obama's plans were and numbering his points as he went along, making Obama look clueless.
4. KNOWING THAT A CONTEST IS WHAT IT IS, YOU NEED TO THROW IN ALL YOU'VE GOT
Obama played it cool, choosing to be Presidential rather than getting into a brick-bat, that afforded Romney the opportunity to be the aggressor, throwing razor-sharp punches at Obama's plans and the results he has to show for it. First, he took on the jobs statistics, highlighting (albeit wrongly) that there are about 23 million jobless today in America as opposed to less that 20 million when Obama took office. He also said there were about 4.7 million people on food-stamps today in America as opposed to 3 million when Obama took office. He went further, highlighting the fact that America's budget deficit grew from 1 trillion dollars to 3 trillion dollars under Obama's watch. He did not stop there, he countered the President's tax plan and his plan for green energy, stating that it would destroy jobs, and finally, Romney zeroed in on Obamacare, stating that it denied people a right to choose.
On the flip side, we expected to hear the President talk about the 47% Americans which Romney had said did not matter and to throw in Romney's shaky tax records as well as his mercantilist exploits at Bain Capital and his Cayman Island Investments in order to evade taxes. Rather Obama chose to be Presidential rather than come on strong on his challenger and guess what? He appeared weak and made his policies even seem weaker against Romney's.
5. NEVER FAIL TO CORRECT LIES AND MISCONCEPTIONS, THE MODERATOR WILL NOT DO IT FOR YOU
Romney contradicted himself on his earlier declared tax policy, stating that he did not intend to reduce the taxes on wealthy Americans, he made his health care plan as Governor of Massachusetts look different from what obtains under Obamacare but rather than counter Romney by stating the facts, Obama went dumb choosing rather to state that the Obamacare idea is a Republican idea. At the end of it all, Romney came out stronger and Obama weaker from yesterday's debate with a CNN Poll actually showing that Romney scored 67% against an Obama 25%.
All said, good debates don't win elections, but good debaters do! Truth is, the jury is out and the polls are already closing inspite of the bad weeks Romney has had, this debate has helped to jumpstart his campaign. The big lesson here is that we should never take chances with anything, as in a contest, everything counts!.
