By Jonathan Stankiewicz
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney may have solidified his place as the GOP frontrunner.
Two debates ago, “Your Money, Your Vote” which came from Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., just goes to prove that anything can happen in these debates. Sponsored by CNBC, which aired it live, and the Michigan Republican Party, the debate focused on the candidates’ economic policy. The actual answers they gave will likely be overshadowed.
Romney came in thinking Texas Governor Rick Perry was his biggest rival, but after last Wednesday he should have nothing to fear. If you haven’t seen Perry’s now famous freeze, while attempting to list the three federal agencies he’d eliminate as president, please YouTube it. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion.
In Perry’s defense, he remembered the answer, but not until the next question was asked. “By the way, that was the Department of Energy I was reaching for a while ago,” he said. However, by then it was too late and his 43-second gaffe couldn’t be forgotten as the social networks took hold and sealed his fate.
Romney then saw another presidential hopeful, Herman Cain, calling former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi “Princess Nancy,” a comment which didn’t make his current public image look any better.
Cain’s issues, which have been headlining major news outlets for the past two weeks or so, only came up once. When asked about the importance of character in presidential candidates, he didn’t miss a beat.
“The American people deserve better than someone being tried in the court of public opinion based on unfounded accusations,” Cain said. “I value my character and my integrity more than anything else.”
His comment about Pelosi rightly raised questions about his current situation. To his credit, immediately after the debate, Cain spoke with CNBC and said “That was a statement that I probably should not have made, but I was trying to make a point.” Nice save, man. Romney’s smile meant something different after that, a silent recognition that his place in front now seems concrete. Still, Cain and his team have to be happy about how the debate turned out, as it could have gone much worse and didn’t focus on the public accusations against him.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had a nice night bashing the media and criticizing the debate format, but didn’t come out as unscathed as he may have liked. Gingrich will be under heavy scrutiny thanks to his answer on whyhe took hundreds of thousands of dollars from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He said he was hired for his “historical knowledge,” something that needs to be questioned moving forward.
Romney wasn’t strong, but he looked much better than his weak competition. He was steady, got the crowd mostly on his side, gave strong answers and, quite frankly, didn’t mess up as much as the others.
Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman were there too, though they were mostly unnoticed. Nothing against them, but not many people will be talking about their performances. They were completely overshadowed by Perry’s failure and the attention on Cain.
As I wrote last week, this is all fodder for Obama, and he now realizes that too.
“We may just run clips of the Republican debates verbatim,” said Obama, as reported by Univision today. “We won’t even comment on them, we’ll just run those in a loop on Univision and Telemundo, and people can make up their own minds.”
If you thought Obama had ammunition before, he now has the equivalent of a munitions factory in terms of material to call into question and turn on his opponents in his upcoming media campaigns. He was joking about playing the debates verbatim, but it may not be a bad tactic. His enemy has indeed looked that weak.
From the mess left behind by the other three front-runners, Romney emerged looking like the only candidate ready to carry the Republican Party next year against President Obama.
This debate didn’t disappoint the audiences, as it made for good conversation and analysis, which the networks and the Republicans always want. Unfortunately for the candidates, the critics will be focusing on their missteps rather than the issues at hand and the political platforms they each stand on.