The first debate between Romney and Obama didn’t merely change the political landscape. It decimated an imagined version of Obama for the millions of supporters who had made the myth real in the first place. It was a substantive defeat for Obama, a complete victory for Romney. The president was out-gunned and overmatched by a well-prepared, extremely knowledgeable, intelligent and poised Mitt Romney. More significantly, every concocted fiction that had served for four years as the president’s armor and camouflage were swept away like cobwebs.
Inevitability was the president’s greatest asset, the source of his strength. Romney took it away from him. Obama performed better in the final two debates, but he had already become ordinary. The memorized zingers of recent days and “Romnesia” all have a whiff of desperation to them. And the president just released a 20-page booklet in which he promises to tax the rich and promote green energy if he’s re-elected. Again, desperate.
The myths have been disproved. What’s left is a well-meaning but unqualified fellow from Chicago presiding over a weak economy, a dismal job market and erupting crises abroad.
For the undecided voters who will pick a winner in two weeks, Obama is not new or cool anymore. And he’s still reeling from defeat. As the president slides in the polls, the late deciders are in the market for a stronger horse.
Yates Walker is a conservative activist and writer. Before becoming involved in politics, he served honorably as a paratrooper and a medic in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. He can be reached at yateswalker@gmail.com.
