A short break from climate science and policy…
The last of the 2012 presidential debates is now in the history books; the German media react. Needless to say the German media are heavily biased towards Obama, and just Obama showing up is enough to declare him the winner.
And they all declared him the winner today. Yet, Germany’s mainstream media is filled throughout with disappointment. It’s obvious that Obama failed to get the result he badly needed.
What was once thought to be in the bag, is now needlessly up for grabs. Worse, Germany’s media sense the momentum is now behind Romney. They are nervous and filled with a growing sense of despair. Obama probably has blown what just a few weeks ago looked to be a shoe-in.
Tagesspiegel: The candidates switched roles – Romney looked like the president.
Obama went on the attack, Romney played the role of president. Calm, resolute and knowledgeable, Mitt Romney maneuvered Barack Obama into a role switch. The last TV debate hardly changed the dynamics of the campaign – Romney profits from this.”
Der Spiegel
Online Spiegel story is titled “Obama’s worthless victory” and writes that his “clear victory” in the third debate “will not move him ahead”. Spiegel observes:
Obama dominated – but Romney neutralized him. […] Mitt Romney in no way lost this foreign policy debate, which also greatly focused on economic policy; He is in a way the second winner.”
Die Welt
The online Die Welt carried the title: “Romney’s successful interview for Commander-in-Chief”. It writes:
The president was clearly stronger in the debate, he controlled the tempo and won on points. But the challenger was not knocked out in the test of strength with the Democrat, who had been able to gather stature as a statesman during his almost 4 years in office. Romney knew how to present himself as a moderate candidate for the White House…”.
and
Obama set the tone, but looked less strong when his challenger deviated from foreign policy and steered the debate into domestic policy and listed the negative economic data.”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)
The FAZ makes the observation that Romney used the debate to distance himself from George W. Bush, and was not interested in taking on Obama.
On this evening, Romney was not looking to take on Obama, rather he was sort of shadow-boxing against another president: George W. Bush.”
Overall, the German media concludes Romney skillfully used the debate to maneuver to the center to collect the undecided votes, a tactic the media believe (and fear) he was successful at.
As far as climate change being a topic? Not once was Al Gore’s “greatest challenge for our species” mentioned in any of the 4 debates. Obviously it’s a very dead issue.
My independent-minded Fil-Am friends in the US also noted that Obama went on petty personal attacks while Romney calmly behaved, more Presidential. And oh, climate was mentioned, the “climate of doubt” 🙂
A whole lotta bizarre drivel in German media – Der Spiegel for instance:
“Das Paradox an dieser Fixierung beider Bewerber ist, dass weder Obama noch Romney echtes Interesse an der Weltregion Islam zeigen. Der Präsident hat sich nach seinen frühen Avancen an die muslimische Welt kaum um Fortschritte dort gekümmert, ernsthaft treibt ihn nur die Bedrohung durch Irans Atomprogramm um.”
“The strange thing is that neither Romney nor Obama show a real interest in Islam. The president has early on made advances to the muslim world but now the only Islam-related theme of interest to him is Iran’s nuclear program.”
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/obama-gegen-romney-aussenpolitik-zuendet-im-us-wahlkampf-nicht-a-862799.html
So much for Germany’s “premier” news magazine… They’re reporting from an alternate reality.
Obama is a worried man.
What worries me is Romney, even though we must have a Republican President [a must], I often wonder where Romney’s heart lies, yeah he can make money but what is he really about? And speaking personally, I’d like to see Ryan as number one and Romney his No2.
But, life is about making a good job out of unsuitable materials.
Go get em Mitt: I hope ROMNEY wins, for a freer and the free world.
Romney surges on Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll