Know or listen to those who know.
Baltasar Gracian
Presidential Debate Round 3:
Foreign Policy
My Verdict: Romney Wins A Strategic Victory
I think Romney missed (perhaps intentionally) a softball pitch on the Benghazi attack, including the unfulfilled requests for more security. I think tonight Romney had some goals--to show he was calm, cool and collected, not impulsive or a hothead, to show that he was well-informed; he was a more "big picture" guy, and I actually thought by expressing agreement with Obama at points, not only underscored his more bipartisan approach but was also engaging in a form of debate rope-a-dope, making it clear Obama's attacks would be a double-edged sword. Most importantly, Romney did not make a Gerald Ford-style (Poland) gaffe. I thought Romney gave some very powerful counter-attacks, particularly when Obama tried to squeeze the economy back into the debate. Romney's closing was very compelling and powerful I heard Krauthammer make a similar analysis in unabashedly saying Romney decisively won the debate and he actually gave the second to Obama on points,
I'm not in a state of denial I've seen some quick polls favoring Obama (CBS and CNN--which gave Obama a small plurality, not majority victory over Romney, and 44% thinking Romney outperforming expectation and half the rest saying he met expectations). I think the Frank Luntz focus group of undecideds also voted Obama won the debate. Let me point out I was most worried about this debate because I think unlike the economy, Romney couldn't claim an experience edge over Obama on foreign policy, Obama has access to knowledge and intelligence Romney doesn't. An aggressive challenger has to be careful of, say politicizing policy. So unless you're career military, diplomat or federal legislator on relevant committees, you're playing on an incumbent's home field. I think most people may have given Obama the edge because he was aggressive. Well, he had to be. The second debate didn't halt Romney's momentum .Maybe Obama won the round of questions--but he needed to land a TKO, and at best he won a battle he should have won on points. I know the fact checkers will back Romney on the flash points, and the disrespectful, condescending soundbites (you don't know today's military) will not play well with moderates and independents. Rove on Fox after the debate made a couple of telling points behind the flash polls--over 60 percent found both Obama and Romney Presidential with only a couple of points in favor of Obama. That's really bad news for Obama--that means a clear majority sees Romney as a capable alternative to Obama. I think it means undecideds will likely break to Romney's advantage. Second, Obama needed a game changer and he didn't get it. He mostly shored up his base and this debate didn't sway many voters.
Obama was dead wrong that he did not want--and in fact, failed to negotiate--a residual force in Iraq after the withdrawal schedule, on the Detroit bankruptcy, etc. Obama was pretty obnoxious, petty and non-Presidential, by any objective standard: he repeatedly interrupted Romney at one point, not even letting Romney finish his statement he was openly disrespectful, making faces, smirking, rolling eyes.
I'm getting tired of hearing Obama spike the football on the UBL killing. I wish Romney would have brought have brought up the talking points of the terrorist attack in Benghazi as a failure in Obama foreign policy, spreading collateral damage from drone attacks as not bettering our image in the Muslim world (and Egyptian protesters arguing there are a billion Osama's).
Personally I would have kicked Obama's ass over his obnoxious, condescending remark that Romney's concern over a smaller Navy showed he was out of touch with today's military, that the military has gone beyond horses and bayonets, they also now have submarines and aircraft carriers. News flash to The (Incompetent) One: the military still uses horses and bayonets (e.g., Afghanistan), and about 1916? "The 1903 advent of heavier-than-air, fixed-wing aircraft was closely followed in 1910 by the first experimental take-off of such an airplane from the deck of a United States Navy vessel (cruiser USS Birmingham), and the first experimental landings were conducted in 1911. In 1918, HMS Argus became the world's first carrier capable of launching and landing naval aircraft." "During the American Civil War both sides successfully built working submarines." It sounds like we have a Commander-in-Chief who skipped history class (doesn't know much about history).
My own view: anyone who thinks the last 4 years have been successful under Obama's foreign policy is delusional. We just saw an attempt to blow up the NY Fed building foiled ; we've seen attacks on embassies and consulates that remind me of the seizure of our embassy in Tehran in the 1970's. We have seen massacres of civilians across the Middle East and Gulf region, spreading drone attacks, post-UBL issues in Pakistan, an aging air fleet as Russia and China are modernizing their military--and an Obama Administration seemingly disorganized and operating seat of the pants (consider the conflict between State and National Intelligence over Benghazi). We have the utter stupidity of a so-called President publishing a withdrawal schedule before surge troops engaged in a single operation--and waving a victory flag after 2000 deaths in Afghanistan, most on his watch.
Unlike the debaters, I do have more non interventionist views and see a need to reform DoD and deal with the military-industrial complex. I do give Romney credit for not giving a blank check on Syria or pushing back from a 2014 exit from Afghanistan. I really want to see the drone attacks scaled back--I think they are counterproductive.
I don't normally embed GOP/RNC videos but this is actually a good digest of commentaries, not candidate hype.
Boudreaux, the Middle Class and Abused Statics
Don Boudreaux of Cafe Hayek is one of my favorite free market economists. He recently wrote one of his trademark pithy open letters responding to allegations free trade is responsible for destroying the middle class:
Overlook the flawed ‘economics’ that leads Messrs. Barlett and Steele to mistakenly conclude that trade with low-wage countries impoverishes ordinary people in higher-wage countries. Focus instead on their assertion that America’s middle-class is in “demise.” Recent data from the Census Bureau show that assertion to be flat wrong. Reckoned in 2009 dollars (that is, adjusted for inflation) the percent of households in America that are poor or lower-middle-income is shrinking while the percentage that are upper-middle-income and wealthy is rising.Here is a markup of a critical response. Notice the chart references aggregated income, not households. Boudreaux notes the apples/oranges comparison
In my letter to Paul Solman I reference Census Bureau table #690, entitled “Money Income of Households — Percent Distribution by Income Level, Race, and Hispanic Origin, in Constant (2009) Dollars.” This table reports, for each year from 1967 through 2009, the percent of American households earning annual money incomes in different brackets – Under $15,000; $15,000 to $24,999; $25,000 to $34,999; $35,000 to $49,999; $50,000 to $74,999; $75,000 to $99,999; and $100,000 and over..the percent of all American households earning inflation-adjusted incomes in the lower income brackets is falling while the percent of households earning incomes in the higher brackets is rising.These data do not reference trade data. Boudreaux is making a broader point of more households in upper income over time. I know that was true for my folks. Not upper income but in a higher quintile: my Dad eventually got a better paying job after retiring from the military as an NCO; my Mom started working full-time after my baby sister was in school; they eventually bought a better house and ate out more, and I earlier mentioned how my younger siblings had soda and ice cream at will; when I lived at home those were special occasion treats.
The main reason I wrote this segment is to show how progressives abuse statistics to fit their talking points. I also point out free trade allows consumers to benefit from more competitive pricing and stretch their income.
Political Humor
link on Drudge: "Man busted for throwing pennies into Dem HQ; 'All he has left after being taxed by Obama'.."
[The only change he can believe in--his own...It doesn't surprise me intolerant elitist Dems had him arrested for giving his two cents. Why should they, of all people, object to his spreading some change around? No doubt they prefer their donations in the amount of $199 from a Chinese credit card.]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Four Tops, "Walk Away, Renée" The given name is the middle name of my first godchild, my baby sister, and the first name of my second goddaughter, the middle child of my 14-months younger sister, our youngest sister's godmother. Soulful hit remake of one of my favorite 60's hits; the original from Left Banke is embedded below
