There seems to be a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth going on in my circles today about the debate. Working at a nuclear plant, I get to interact with people from all walks. Union members like me, some college educated and others with a high school diploma, Supervisors and Engineers, laborers who do grounds work and janitorial duties, and even the occasional corporate hack down to bust our balls. Today the conservatives are all smug talking about how Mitt Romney wiped the floor with Obama and those like myself, yellow dog democrats, can only agree that it seemed as if the president had little or no preparation for this debate……… or did he?
How many times in the last 4 years have you thought to yourself, or verbally to others, “Obama is just crazy to do that!” and then everything worked out? Then after the thing worked out many like you and I say “Man he is playing 7 dimensional chess or some shit because he totally mind fucked us all!” My personal viewpoint is that the president has done this more times than not and that he is on a different level. What evidence do I have to support this? Not much in the way of hard facts, but with analysis of the debate and a memory of the high notes of the debate we can put together a decent picture of what could have happened.
Looking first at the blaringly obvious softball that Romney threw out; let’s think about what might have been. The president brought out the line about where you put your money is important, while speaking of budgets, and Romney threw out the “I agree where you put your money is important”. This is the point I take issue with the most, because to me all the president had to say was “Well Mitt, then why do you put your money in the Caymans and Switzerland?” This was not the only time he could have said it. He could have also used it when Romney mentioned that “zinger” about “maybe I need a new accountant”. Either way, it made me so mad I was literally hopping up and down in my living room yelling at the TV as to why the president was not hitting back with that.
Secondly, we look at the “5 trillion in tax cuts” that the President wielded like a limp spaghetti noodle last night. When faced with the unscrupulous tactic of your opponent denying it ever happened and that is not his plan, what should he have done? Well if you are anything like me jumping up and down in front of the TV had no effect so you start thinking of what might have been. I pondered this to try and think of anything that may have stuck and the only thing that came to mind was just looking straight at him and asking him exactly how much an across the board 20% tax reduction costs the government without taking away tax deductions and loopholes. The obvious reply to that would have been the Ryan dodge of deficit neutral due to deductions to which the reply from President Obama could have been to cite the non partisan tax policy centers estimation of 4.8 trillion dollars with a witty reply that since Mr. Romney does not understand the math I will explain it. Then you could explain that there are not enough tax deductions for the very rich out there (which the President tried to do but not good enough) to foot that bill and that the remaining tax deductions have to come out of the middle class. This would have been better if he had mentioned the mortgage tax deduction because many people that get this deduction want to hang onto it. (Disclaimer: yes I get that and want to keep it)
I personally believe those two points, if made without the “Obama pause”, would have sunk Mitt Romney. I am not an advisor nor am I the President. I am however a working class, union member, yellow dog democrat that wants more than anything to see the president pimp slap Mr. Romney into another dimension and would give anything to see it happen. That however, did not happen. What happened was the president came off looking like a wimp that could not stand up to the schoolyard bully – wait a minute – maybe that is exactly what they wanted to happen. Most middle/working class people do not connect with mittens. Most middle/working class people have had “that boss”. You know the one that wants everyone to know he is the boss and that wants to make you look stupid every time someone else is around.
This is where the 7 dimensional chess comes in. You see, it was obvious to me that Obama got pissed last night. At least twice, by my count, I saw my president chewing on his lip and shaking his head like he wanted to say “Mother fucker you have got some balls on you to keep telling that same old lie”. Pardon my crass vocabulary, but as a former sailor and a union worker I tend to “tell it like it is” and that is what I saw. Once when mittens basically called Obama a “boy” on live national TV. You know the part where Romney said “That is just not true. I have five BOYS and you know they don’t always tell the truth and sometimes they just keep repeating it hoping you will start to think it is true”. So to me this was very telling about Romney, but more telling that the President endured the insult and kept his composure. It made Romney come across as the know it all boss that likes to bully people, while the President looked like you and I - waiting for the day when the "boss" gets his comeuppance. There was a time there where i Wish Obama would have just jabbed a bit I felt he could have pushed Romney over the edge. It is something I hope happens again. I know that my president knows all these facts and knows the truth of the matter but I personally was playing checkers and it seems and hopefully will be revealed he was playing 7 dimensional chess.