Membranophonist’s Ramblings

Bush performed very weakly at the first debate. Why? When you don’t have a thorough grasp of the policy issues being debated, you are forced to pause, stumble over words, and generally duck the questions posed by reciting banal campaign platitudes. Another way to describe George W. Bush’s debate performance would be “tentative”.

Then there were Bush’s petulant facial expressions, eye-rolling, and seeming disbelief that anyone could criticize or oppose him. There is a world outside your bubble, Mr. Bush. In that world, the president is still seen as a public servant, not the omnipotent ruler of the universe. The president is hired by the people to serve the people, not ordained for life by God.

Bush was on the defensive the majority of the debate, unable to turn what was widely said to be his strength, national security, into a winning issue. Now the debates turn to domestic policy, an area in which Bush consistently polls lower than Kerry. How is he going to explain the transformation of a budget surplus into a massive deficit, his grossly skewed tax cuts (any chance those two things are linked?), the rising cost of health care, and the Hooverian job creation record?