Can Obama turn the table in the important second debate?
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhurty in Washington
President Barack Obama has obviously under tremendous psychological pressure ahead of the second debate against his challenger Mitt Romney as he has hardly any option but to come up with an impressive performance to obviate the debacle in the first presidential debate. The incumbent, who was leading his opponent in the otherwise tight race, lost the advantage largely because of his seemingly lethargic performance against the Republican nominee in which the latter was widely believed to have come out successful.
As Obama lost this high ground, the ruling Democrats have evidently been somewhat crestfallen by the unexpected development, but has bounced back to some extent in the debate between the vice-presidential candidates. While the candidates vying for the presidency are having three debates, only one such debate at the vice-presidential level has already taken place. Although the encounter has been quite lively and entertaining as both Joe Biden-- the incumbent, and Romney's running mate for the vice-president Paul Ryan made best of their efforts to elbow out each other, at the end of the day it was the experienced and elderly Biden who appeared to have prevailed over his much younger rival. This has helped the Democrats check the slide that was caused by Obama's lackluster performance in the first debate even though Biden had not been able to knock out Ryan as such. The youthful rival of Biden demonstrated enough skills for future leadership as he crossed swords with the vice-president on a plethora of subjects ranging from killing of the American ambassador Cris Stevens along with three other fellow countrymen in Libya, to abortion and unemployment policies. The performance of both was commendable in the keenly contested duel, but Biden was considered more offensive with his facts and arguments and this, although marginally, helped boost the morale of the flagging Democrats at a difficult time.
Now, all eyes are focused on the Obama-Romney debate on October 16 when the incumbent is under a severe compelling pressure to turn the table on his opponent in view of the worsening fortunes of the Democrats caused by the first debate. Whatever benefit the Democrats have derived from the vice-presidential debate is not very substantial in the sense that the electorate wants to see how Obama faces Romney. This has at least temporarily arrested the decline of the Democrats and all are eagerly waiting for the second debate of the presidential hopefuls on October 16 evening (Bangladesh time quite early on the 17th). A vast majority of the people are expected to remain glued to their television screens in the United States, while many in far away countries like Bangladesh would also probably not miss the opportunity of watching the crucial confrontation between Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney, who looks upbeat following the first debate.
Although the debates are recognised as important factors potentially capable of influencing the voters, nearly two thirds of the voters say that they need no further information before the Election Day and barely one in eight is undecided or says there is a chance that he or she might change his/her mandate. Even as voters overwhelmingly consider Romney as the winner in the first debate, a large majority of the voters say that opinion about the fate of the incumbent president did not shift markedly. Nevertheless, the Republicans have reasons to be happy. Obama arrived in the Kingsmill resort on Saturday morning and he will remain there until Tuesday morning before flying to Long Island to appear in the second round of the televised debates against Romney. He is spending much time in studying, preparing and rehearsing, says one of his aides. The president is "calm, focused and energised", said the aide. The debate takes place in New York.
Alongside the serious preparations on the part of both the candidates, they are not sparing any effort to reach out to the voters as far as possible despite their very tight schedules. Obviously, Romney will be desperate to maintain the "winner" image he acquired from the first debate while Obama will be hell-bent in restoring the earlier image of a good performer.
The format of the second debate will be different as the audience will be allowed to ask questions to the candidates while in the first debate, they responded to the moderator.
zaglulbss@yahoo.com
President Barack Obama has obviously under tremendous psychological pressure ahead of the second debate against his challenger Mitt Romney as he has hardly any option but to come up with an impressive performance to obviate the debacle in the first presidential debate. The incumbent, who was leading his opponent in the otherwise tight race, lost the advantage largely because of his seemingly lethargic performance against the Republican nominee in which the latter was widely believed to have come out successful.
As Obama lost this high ground, the ruling Democrats have evidently been somewhat crestfallen by the unexpected development, but has bounced back to some extent in the debate between the vice-presidential candidates. While the candidates vying for the presidency are having three debates, only one such debate at the vice-presidential level has already taken place. Although the encounter has been quite lively and entertaining as both Joe Biden-- the incumbent, and Romney's running mate for the vice-president Paul Ryan made best of their efforts to elbow out each other, at the end of the day it was the experienced and elderly Biden who appeared to have prevailed over his much younger rival. This has helped the Democrats check the slide that was caused by Obama's lackluster performance in the first debate even though Biden had not been able to knock out Ryan as such. The youthful rival of Biden demonstrated enough skills for future leadership as he crossed swords with the vice-president on a plethora of subjects ranging from killing of the American ambassador Cris Stevens along with three other fellow countrymen in Libya, to abortion and unemployment policies. The performance of both was commendable in the keenly contested duel, but Biden was considered more offensive with his facts and arguments and this, although marginally, helped boost the morale of the flagging Democrats at a difficult time.
Now, all eyes are focused on the Obama-Romney debate on October 16 when the incumbent is under a severe compelling pressure to turn the table on his opponent in view of the worsening fortunes of the Democrats caused by the first debate. Whatever benefit the Democrats have derived from the vice-presidential debate is not very substantial in the sense that the electorate wants to see how Obama faces Romney. This has at least temporarily arrested the decline of the Democrats and all are eagerly waiting for the second debate of the presidential hopefuls on October 16 evening (Bangladesh time quite early on the 17th). A vast majority of the people are expected to remain glued to their television screens in the United States, while many in far away countries like Bangladesh would also probably not miss the opportunity of watching the crucial confrontation between Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney, who looks upbeat following the first debate.
Although the debates are recognised as important factors potentially capable of influencing the voters, nearly two thirds of the voters say that they need no further information before the Election Day and barely one in eight is undecided or says there is a chance that he or she might change his/her mandate. Even as voters overwhelmingly consider Romney as the winner in the first debate, a large majority of the voters say that opinion about the fate of the incumbent president did not shift markedly. Nevertheless, the Republicans have reasons to be happy. Obama arrived in the Kingsmill resort on Saturday morning and he will remain there until Tuesday morning before flying to Long Island to appear in the second round of the televised debates against Romney. He is spending much time in studying, preparing and rehearsing, says one of his aides. The president is "calm, focused and energised", said the aide. The debate takes place in New York.
Alongside the serious preparations on the part of both the candidates, they are not sparing any effort to reach out to the voters as far as possible despite their very tight schedules. Obviously, Romney will be desperate to maintain the "winner" image he acquired from the first debate while Obama will be hell-bent in restoring the earlier image of a good performer.
The format of the second debate will be different as the audience will be allowed to ask questions to the candidates while in the first debate, they responded to the moderator.
zaglulbss@yahoo.com