on the ground, and observers are baying like hounds.
I don't know what was up with Obama in the debate -- he just lay down and quit. Since we know Obama could handily kick Romney's ass in a debate if he wanted to (Romney gave Obama huge openings by telling outright lies, not to mention the "47%" debacle), we have to assume that Obama either just didn't feel up to it or that he and his aides made a conscious decision for Obama to just impassively stand there and act "presidential" and let Romney froth at the mouth. If this was Obama's plan, it was disastrously naive. He let Romney get away with murder, and, moreover, Obama looked as if he didn't care.
My own suspicion is that running this race -- against an amoral liar who will say anything and do anything -- has left Obama deeply tired of going against his own nature, which is to be conciliatory and to avoid fighting. I also think, though, as I've written before, that Obama is trapped by the overly-appeasing "Good Negro" persona he has embraced as president to avoid scaring white voters who fear leadership that is "too black." (Obama is quite capable of uncaging himself in front of a black audience; an old and much-covered Obama black church speech from 2007, currently being flacked on the right as if it's news, is one of many examples.)
In any case, my gut guess is that something deep within Obama really hates this campaign right now. During the debate he looked angry, simmering inside, and I'd bet it's because he resents what is being demanded of him. I suspect that a part of Obama longs to revert to his true nature and, if this effectively hands the race to Romney, so be it; Obama could then happily escape from the whole damned arena and go someplace where he doesn't have to be a warrior.
But who knows what will happen. None of this may matter for the election. Kerry whipped Bush in their first debate and we can see how much difference that ultimately made.
And more fundamentally, although the official "debate" narrative can't admit it, the two "competing visions" are two flavors of corporate monarchy. Let's not forget that the iron hand of the private-driven Presidential Debate Commission bars a third party from even appearing in these debates.
So what do you do with your purported vote? A lot of people of conscience are agonizing over this. Argument for voting for Obama: the sometimes-incremental differences between him and Romney will matter for the real suffering (and sometimes death) of real people. Think health care, for starters. Argument for voting Green/Third Party or not voting at all: if we don’t make the sellouts pay, and if we don’t shift our energies to building a progressive party, we will never change the country.
Meanwhile, what’s your electoral pleasure: hemlock or arsenic?
Thanks to Laurie.
