Tonight I watched the first presidential debate, but two days ago I had an idea about what might be a good strategy for Obama, so I wrote the following:
In my days as a catcher for a fast-underhand softball league, I did a little something every game that never failed to pay off At the end of the toss-around prior to the first batter, I would throw down to second base…short in the dirt…a little wide left or right…but never right on the bag down low on the first base side to catch the runner in his slide.
It gave the opposing team hope they could steal on me.
But when that very first base-runner tried to steal second, he was toast. And if they were foolish enough to think that was an aberration, they discovered the hard way it wasn’t.
We played for the championship my first year, losing on a fluke, but won the next.
What I suggest Obama attempt in the first debate is to do just enough to allow Romney (and the media) to argue that Romney scored some points and could close the gap with a stronger performance in the 2nd debate. It’s all about hope ;-))
What that does is prevent the ad money from drying up for Mitt’s presidential bid. If enough people say Romney “won” the debate and is therefore still in contention (besides the reality of true situation), he gets to keep spending money on his losing cause. However, if he’s seen as having “lost” the first debate, mucho dinero starts to head down-ticket to Senate and House races.
And Obama needs only to buy time to the second debate.
We have to keep conservatives chasing after the hope that Obama won’t toss out Romney at second base.
And now, one hour after the first presidential debate, after viewing debate analysis on MSNBC, CNN, and even Faux News, I re-read the above.
Barack Obama did not lose anything tonight. Certainly not the support of those who know him and appreciate his stewardship of the Oval Office. And for those paying attention to details, Obama was very specific on his record, and very specific on Romney’s non-specifics.
Mitt Romney, however, lost a whole lot, because he got pinned down on ever-mutating positions he will have to “explain” in detail to his radical base, and then defend or “re-explain” to the American people in the next debate.
And Obama has run out more of the clock.