Art Cashin's Presidential Debate Summary: "Not A High Moment In The History Of The Republic"

For those who watched last night's pre-presidential theater, our condolences. You were not alone, however. Art Cashin was there too and here is his post-mortem.

From UBS Financial Services

The Debate – Here's how Politico's Ben White described the debate this morning:

DEBATE WRAP: BARE-KNUCKLE BRAWL — It was an intense debate between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on Long Island last night, with the candidates often circling, interrupting and generally trying to outalpha male each other. Obama turned in a much stronger performance than the first debate and ripped into Romney's tax proposals — especially the notion of cutting marginal rates 20 percent without adding to the deficit — as well as his primary season stances on contraception coverage and immigration and his opposition to the auto bailout. Obama also used his final answer to invoke Romney's 47 percent comments dismissing nearly half the country as free loaders. In short, Obama hit all the points his supporters could not believe he mostly skipped in the first debate.

But Obama was far less effective in making an affirmative case for a second term, saying only that he wanted to create more manufacturing jobs and reduce the debt and deficit and keep investing in alternative energy sources.  Romney had his strongest moments ripping up Obama's first term record, citing the persistently high jobless rate, the rising debt and the lack of action on Social Security, Medicare and immigration reform. Obama mainly tried to refresh his campaign's initial — and largely successful — disqualification effort against Romney rather than making a strong pitch for a second term vision.

What struck me was the large number of viewers, including reporters, who expressed discomfort at watching the debate. The contentious, uncivil nature of it, prompted phrases like "I had to look away" or "I almost switched it off". Certainly not a high moment in the history of the Republic.

Overanalyzing a bit, the alpha-male aspect may have hurt Romney a bit. My thinking was that the first debate made him look competent and human. He could have built on that with a chance to build empathy with the audience, especially women.

While the President was given the nod by a plurality of viewers, I think Ben White hit the mark. The President continues to run on a "why you can't choose Romney platform" rather than a "Why you must choose me". Next week's polls could move markets.

Comments

[loveyajimbo]

Mitt's best hit was dulled by another biased moderator, her LIE about Obama's initial statement on Bengazigate will never be realized by the sheep... how a Kenyan mulatto failure like BO could even be close is an extreme warning for our country and our way of life.

[Augustus]

Jay Carney on 9/20: The White House “hadn’t” called Benghazi a “terrorist attack.”

[torak]

You people actually watched that BS?  The vast majority of the US public are idiots, and unfortuately it looks like a fair share of ZH fall into this catagory too.  You actually bothered to watch??? <disgusted head shake>  Amazing.

[sdmjake]

I did watch some of it. Thought it a good opportunity for teaching my son. I appreciated that even a young teenager could watch only a few minutes and say, "This is crazy--nobody actually answers the questions!". I believe it is my job as a parent to do all i can to give the next generation a true intellectual curiosity and a capacity for critical thought. That sh*tshow of a debate was a perfect glimpse at the horror of our current system if you really pay attention and an opportunity I could not pass up... "No one can be told what the Matrix is" {can only hope they take the Red Pill !}

[icanhasbailout]

I turned on the debate; less than one obscenely condescending sentence from Obama later, I turned it off.

[knukles]

I switched to the Yankees game and wound up throwing my toe nail clippings at the television.

[dadichris]

i did switch it off because it was just too painful to watch.  some of my friends found it hilarious, however. either reaction does not speak well for the country.

[Augustus]

CBS Poll: Romney Wins 65-34 on Economy; CNN Poll: Romney Wins 54-40 on Economy, 49-46 on Health Care, 51-44 on Taxes, 59-36 on Deficit, 49-46 on Leadership, All in Favor of Romney

[AlphaHunter001]

I was dissapointed at how overtly the moderator kept letting Obama finish the topics. I did like the back and forth nature, both showing that they are passionate and fighting for their lives. I think most people would be critical if they were to sit back and casually state that the economy is in trouble etc...

What I was most surprised was the African-American who asked Obama why he should get his vote. I think anyone who voted for Obama should ask themselves if they really are better off, because I know business people certainly don't think.

Talking to many small business owners, they are increasingly worried that new regulations and tax structure will curtail any growth plans they have. It's not rocket science, if you kill businesses from expanding and growing through high taxes and regulations, you kill jobs (see Greece, Spain, France etc... for examples)