By Lynda L. Jones, editor
Photo by Mike Segar/Reuters
It is evident that much of the mainstream media has another agenda when they deliver the post analysis of the presidential and vice-presidential debates. To even suggest that Congressman Paul Ryan even came close to winning the debate against Vice- President Joe Biden, and that Mitt Romney won his debates with President Obama tells us their agenda is to defeat the Obama-Biden ticket.
Well, that is why other media like ours exists. We deliver the story that ‘mainstream’ does not and will not. But Tuesday night’s debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney demonstrated that our president has not lost anything in his debating skills, or his ability to ‘knock out’ an opponent as he did with Romney in the second debate.
The first debate between the two left many observers feeling that the president allowed Romney to get in too many jabs, and did not counter them back. The mainstream media immediately declared Romney the winner, and stated that President Obama did not prepare, that he was not focused, etc.
Here’s another view on that debate. Certainly during the first debate, many Obama supporters felt a little let down. You see when you are watching a boxing match, you look for a punch and counter punch. You look for aggression, and a lot of swingin’ even if you are not delivering any punches. And when you use this analogy, you are a bit confused, when you don’t see your fighter in the mix like you think he should be. But, in post analysis of this debate many supporters in the Black community who know what Obama is really made of saw something from the past. They saw the tactics and style of the ‘greatest fighter’ of them all, Muhammad Ali who was the innovator of a fighting technique called ‘the rope a dope’.
The fighting style of the ‘rope a dope’ allows an opponent to swing and punch with full aggression. The champ (Obama) protects himself with blocking the punches, but doesn’t invest a lot of wasted energy and aggression. And when the opponent is all punched out, but at the same time full of himself believing that he has delivered more points in his punching style, the champ returns with a ‘knock out’ punch.
President Obama did indeed come back to the second debate and knocked out Mitt Romney. As many say in the Black community, “He smacked him down like he (Romney) stole something”.
And many have seen from day one that the Republicans have been trying to steal this election and every race that they are running in. The lies that continue to be allowed to come out of their mouths in these debates and their ads, along with the tactics with Voter ID suppression have been outrageous.
Well, Biden called Ryan out on his lies and the president allowed Romney to bury himself in lies in the first debate. Romney came to the second debate full of his false victory and ‘white’ privilege believing that the first debate was the new norm. Instead, he got called out on many of his lies, to the point where even the debate moderator, Candy Crowley had to correct him, when he stood in his full arrogance and stared the president down telling him what he (Obama) didn’t say in a Rose Garden address to the nation the day after the attacks in Libya.
Romney was so full of his rehearsed talking points, that he told the president that it took the administration 14 days to refer to the Libya attacks as an act of terror. The president informed him that he did indeed refer to the attacks in that realm during his Rose Garden address the day after. He began his stare down, as if the president was supposed to buckle down and continued to insist that the president was not being honest. Obama told him to get the transcripts, and then Crowley told Romney that the president was correct. Romney stood stunned, without a rehearsed comeback or lie to comeback with.
This was part of Romney’s failed attempt to make the president and his administration look unconcerned with the Libya attacks that left four Americans’ dead. Or that the administration lied about the reason behind the attacks. Obama responded with great command as he pointed to Romney and looked him dead in his eye and told him that he (Obama) was the one charged with the duty of greating dead bodies back to America, and that he sat with and comforted family members of these individuals who died for their country. He is the commander and chief and he finds Romney’s suggestions of anything less of his administration and how they operate in times of such tragedies ‘offensive’, and that is not how he operates. Again Romney looked like he had been hit with a stun gun…no counter punch.
In this debate, Romney refused to follow the debate rules and instructions, he thought his style in the first debate was a winning one, so he continued it. In the first debate, even Obama said that he was just too polite. So, when Romney tried over and over again to exercise his ‘white privilege’ the president spoke up and responded. This debate surely mimicked the style of a heavyweight boxing match.
And in the closing remarks, following Mitt Romney’s speech on his religious values, and false promises, President Obama delivered the knock out punch for the night. He reminded the audience of the Mitt Romney behind closed doors, declaring that he was not interested in the 47 percent of Americans who were takers. Obama let the nation know that included in this 47 percent are veterans, seniors, those who have disabilities and anyone else who have paid their dues and now rely on government assistance to live. He warned the nation to really pay attention to what Mitt Romney says and means. He will not be tough on China, how can he be when he has been responsible for helping to send American jobs there and holds millions of dollars in investments there. He will not reduce the deficit with his plans, and not cut essential education, health and many other programs that help build the nation up. And he will now say anything that he thinks will get him elected.