Jim Rutenberg & Jeff Zeleny, "Obama and Romney Mount Biting Attacks in Debate Rematch: Tense Encounter as Rivals Woo Undecided," in The New York Times, October 17, 2012, at p. A1.
Last night's second presidential debate was an "entertainment event" like the first meeting between the major party candidates.
President Obama, in my judgment, was the clear winner of this second encounter. We will have to see what the polls say.
Will this victory by Mr. Obama change many voters' minds? I doubt it.
What is this election about? Well, after the economic discussion has passed us by in a deluge of technicalities -- beyond the personality attacks -- I believe that, as usual, race and racism is the most significant issue in the election.
A Mitt Romney supporter wore a t-shirt that said: "Put the WHITE back in the White House!" For many Romney supporters the Republican nominee is less than ideal, but being caucasian, he is still preferable to Mr. Obama.
Mr. Romney has promised to remain a white man. I am sure that he will keep that promise.
This unspoken -- if obvious -- reality in the presidential election (racism) and in all of American politics places the issue of "reaching across the aisle" in perspective.
You cannot have bipartisanship when one party (Republicans) decides that ousting a duly-elected president is the number one priority over the national interest and/or the common good. I have yet to see requests for Mr. Romney's birth certificate even though he was born in Mexico. Wet back? Where's your green card, Mitt?
Mr. Romney's handling of the economy -- if he had been elected president in 2008 -- may well have landed us in a greater mess than the one we are in today. Certainly, Mr. Romney found it difficult to distance himself from George W. Bush. Romney's policies are nearly IDENTICAL to the Bush/Cheney disaster.
This reality of Bush-inspired ineptitude by Romney, which few deny, may not matter to the Republican faithful. Romney's likely and evident helplessness in this Republican-created economic catastrophe should matter to the rest of us.
Another four years of Bush/Cheney-style incompetence may finish off America for the century.
Voters must decide based on the personal qualities of the two candidates (or of any other candidate who strikes their fancy), who is more intelligent and capable under pressure, who is less likely to make a mistake (as on the Libya issue where Mr. Romney was factually wrong!), and more likely to act in the interest of the majority of the people as opposed to excluding, say, 47% as "freeloaders."
Assuming that both men are "good persons" (in the absence of evidence to the contrary at this time), I am pretty confident that Mr. Obama is more likely to protect the national as distinct from any sectarian interest. Surprisingly, for an American politician, Mr. Obama claims to be "for all the people." I believe President Obama on this issue.
If what bothers you, as a voter, is race, I suggest that you think of Mr. Obama as a white man and vote (for your children's sake) for the Democrat who is, clearly, the better man.
If you are one of America's billionaires, then I can certainly understand why you would vote for Mr. Romney.
Look at it this way, if Mr. Obama is undeniably "black" (as Richard Posner says), then Mr. Romney is definitely "green" -- green like those millions of dollars that he has tucked away in the Cayman Islands, or in China, where Uncle Sam and those liberals at The Nation magazine will never get their hands on them. Mr. Romney represents and serves money, not people.
Whatever you do, don't stay home this election. A poor choice between these candidates could have very dire consequences for America's future in the decades to come.
