After President Barack Obama's painfully lackluster showing in his first debate with GOP challenger Mitt Romney, a journalist traveling with the Democrat joked to other reporters that he could explain what had happened: "The trouble with doing your debate prep in Vegas is that it stays in Vegas."
Whatever the reason, Romney's victory—in front of a TV audience of 67 million—revived his campaign and appears to have fed a public-opinion poll boost (see below) with barely three weeks left until Election Day. Not surprisingly, Obama and his campaign advisers are serving notice that he won't make the same mistake twice when he faces off with his rival on Tuesday night at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., for a town hall-style debate.
Last week, the president told ABC's Diane Sawyer that he was "determined" to do a better job of challenging Romney. And he told radio host Tom Joyner that he had been "too polite" in the first debate. "We're going to take it to him," the president promised.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who had joked before the first debate that the worst outcome would be that the president "could fall off the stage," set the stage for a fight on Tuesday.
"The American people should expect to see a much more energized President Obama making a passionate case for why he is a better choice for the middle class," she wrote in an email. "And he will continue to hold Mitt Romney's feet to the fire on the facts about his policies."
Vice President Joe Biden's combative performance against Congressman Paul Ryan last week in their only debate appears to have reassured core Democrats dispirited by the president's limp outing. And now, the president, hunkered down at the luxurious Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va., is showing the spirit he seemed to lack the first time around.
No comments:
Post a Comment