I had a bad feeling about the debate, going in. Did you?

[Bucky]

Those who are so inclined to pontificate, please dismount your high horses before joining this thread and decrying "doom and gloomism" like no one has a right to emotional responses you don't approve of (I'll simply number your pointless scolding responses below). For what it's worth, I don't think the president's performance was all that bad nor causative of any real harm to his reelection.

My interest is sociological. This is a survey on intuitions, seeing how many people either (a) expected a stellar performance from the president, (b) had no expectations, or (c) had a concern that a lifelong salesperson who conned millions of conservative voter might outpizzazz a professor.

So, to the best of your recollection, and knowing that you're a smart liberal who's open-minded about all potential outcomes in a show-down like a televised debate, what were you expecting out of the first debate?

11 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	In my gut, I felt something wasn't going to go right
	6 (55%)
	I was concerned that Obama's unslick, substance-heavy style wouldn't match well against Glib Romney's
	0 (0%)
	I was concerned because I'm naturally cautious, but didn't have any inkling of what might transpire
	1 (9%)
	I was open minded entirely, without expectations
	1 (9%)
	I was optimistic that Obama would have a better night than Romney
	1 (9%)
	I was pretty sure Obama was gonna mop the stage with fact-hater Mittens
	2 (18%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[JaneyVee]

1. I chose 2 because Obama is a thinker, not an attack dog. BUT,

Now that Romney came out swinging, Obama can be the attack dog without the media calling him an 'angry black man' (which pisses me off to no end). Also, Pres.Obama hasn't debated in 4 years while Romney participated in 19 debates from June 2011 until February 2012. Plus, all he does for the past 6years is campaign, sleep late, eat beluga sturgeon caviar, fly on private jets, and prep for debates.

[Bucky]

4. I keep on dismissing race as a factor.

That's probably projection on my part, because I find most conversations about race to be tiresome and nonproductive. Obama's just entirely too nerdy to be seen as an ABM (that's not a real acronym). But then again, I'm probably mistaken in that. I mean, I think most people--Republican and Democrat--see past race once you get to know a person. But there's also certainly a minority who do still feel that vibe and, like swing voters, their slim minority of opinion happens to matter more than those who've already made up their minds.

People are stupider than I'm willing to acknowledge.

Thanks for responding thoughtfully.

[JaneyVee]

9. Oh those aren't my words, that's what FOX news called him the night before the debates.

And then in a case of projection, they claimed that Obama would just be a 90minute attack ad on Romney (even though these idiots don't realize that during a debate between 2 people you don't get a full 90 minutes, maybe 45 minutes, but like I said they're idiots.)

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. picked the first choice - and couldn't specify why....in retrospect,

I think it was because the polls were moving so much in Obama's direction that there was an inevitability about Mitt's lying, Obama's cautiousness, and the media's spin. I feel like we are all part of some bizarre pre-ordained drama that none of us want to participate in.

[Bucky]

7. Democrats, I suspect, are more comfortable worrying. I think it's a good trait.

I'm also the sort who looks for problems. I enjoy a good win, of course, but I'm more likely to be concerned about overconfidence than I am about being too bummed out to fight. That's why all the muckrakers were liberals. We're not afraid to look at what might be going wrong.

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. It's because we actually think. we don't just follow blindly, we aren't authoritarians as a rule.

[bluestate10]

3. I expected Obama to beat Romney.

I was vastly disappointed with the President standing there having difficulty formulating his thoughts while a trained liar stood across from him.

[Generic Brad]

5. I fully expected Romney to do well

He is, after all, a CEO. He is used to standing in front of large audiences and saying whatever he needs to do to win the moment. He did not get in that position by being forthcoming and honest.

He has spent a lifetime polishing his "just trust me" attitude.

For those of us who thought Romney would fail -- that was as unreal of an expectation as when the GOP sees an invisible, non-existent Obama in an empty chair. Just because we desperately wanted to see Romney out of his element did not necessarily make it so.

[andym]

6. I knew Romney was going to try to turn it into Carter vs Reagan

Last edited Sun Oct 7, 2012, 12:10 PM - Edit history (1)

since he's said so numerous times, and I was wondering how the President was going to counter. I didn't realize that Romney was willing to continually lie as much as he did and expect to get away with it. I did expect the President to knock the lies.

[ecstatic]

10. I was worried pre-debate because the MSM kept saying Rmoney could turn things around

based on his performance. Going in to the debate, I was angry, frustrated and a little worried that voters would be dumb enough to accept style over substance. I was thinking that Romney had already showed us who he was, thanks to the 47% clip, and that if people were gullible enough to believe what he said when he knew cameras were rolling, then this country was pretty much hopeless.

So I guess overall, I was anxious that Romney might be able to do a brand new reboot on stage and... sadly, that's exactly what happened. Basically, all of my fears were realized (based on the polls I've seen).

[GoCubsGo]

11. I fully expected Romney to lie his ass off and act like a bully.

Which is what he did. I also fully expected the media would claim he "won", regardless of how either of them performed. And, I knew the media con-men would judge the debate on style, rather than substance, and let all of Romney's blatant lies and abhorrent behavior slide. Which is what they did.

As for the President, I really didn't have any expectations for him. I don't really remember the 2008 debates all that much, and there were lots of claims that the President isn't all that great of a debater. Apparently, those claims were correct. Not that I think it matters. I think the weigh that some are putting on these debates is grossly overblown.

[Bucky]

15. I think he's better at town hall style formats, not the stagy showdowns

That said, I felt a little sympathy for 1984 Republicans after Reagan fucked up his first debate and Mondale surged to within 20 points of Reagan in the polls.

[TwilightGardener]

12. Romney was going to be pronounced the winner unless he shat himself.

Need to keep the close-race narrative going until the end.

[treestar]

13. Naturally cautious

Because you know the Rs are going to pull some showy trick at some point.

And you know the media is never going to do anything but carry water for Rmoney.

[Prophet 451]

14. I fully expected Romney to lie like a rug

and he did. He used the Gish Gallop of just throwing out so much bullshit that Obama didn't have time or chance to correct it all and, without wishing to toot my own horn, I predicted that's what Romney would do months ago.

[etherealtruth]

16. I assumed that Romney would have been heavily coached and ridiculously practiced

He is not very likable in the public eye. I have no doubt countless focus groups were enlisted to identify what would and would not work for him.

There is no doubt in my mind that the focus of the last couple of months has been careful speech and body language rehearsals.

I expected exactly what we received from Romney ... a carefully coached rehearsed and controlled "performance" ... this is what we received.

It was an effort to appeal to "undecided low information" voters ... it probably worked to a degree.

I think IBM's post debate performance has been good and may counter a lot of this.

I am, however (in answer to the question posited), disappointed in Obama's debate performance ... he has a lot of grace and charm (as well as intelligence) ... this did not shine through as well as I would have liked.

[DevonRex]

17. Bad feeling before. Absolutely KNEW at first words

Obama spoke. Something about his tone. Like he was going to have to do something against his instincts. Sad and anger under the surface.

I got up and watched in my bedroom apart from my family.