Does Obama sense his time is up?
Lynn University is the kind of college that most students dream of and most parents are horrified by. Next to the concert hall where the two candidates went “mano a mano” on Libya, Syria and China there was a pool, frothing with Baywatch extras, who I assume were students, cavorting on red, white and blue floats, listening to reggae music and drinking super-sized, alcohol-free strawberry pina coladas out of giant sippi cups.
If this is the youth vote and Obama is still relying on them then he is in trouble. They have better things to do. But he really needs them and their friends to unpeel themselves from their sun loungers and vote. Otherwise the next White House will be one where alcohol-free cocktails are the rule not the exception.
President Obama may have won the debate on points and his supporters believe deeply that this was his best performance of the three rounds so far. He was presidential, which you would expect. He kept reminding the audience that he has been in commander-in-chief for four years and that on his watch there were no major disasters and one major success in the form of bin Laden swimming with the fishes.
In fact so successful has Obama’s foreign policy been that Mitt Romney seemed to concur with him on most issues. This was the “I agree with Barack” debate. If Romney’s journey over the last month has been a migration to the centre this was almost the final destination. Mitt, the peacemaker, the conciliator. I hope the Nobel Committee was watching.
They say that imitation is a form of flattery. But that’s not how President Obama saw it. He was miffed by Mitt’s migration. His eyes flashed flintily and at times he was dripping with mirth as when he told the governor that military warfare had moved on from bayonets and horses. It was funny, there were howls of laughter in the press room and Obama’s supporters at home would have been high fiving each other.
The president was on form but still didn’t seem to be enjoying himself. In fact he looked almost spooked at times. It must be that he feels victory slipping slowly through his hands. The polls are neck and neck. Could one bad debate performance in Denver really make such a difference? Obama must be asking himself.
Even if Romney lost the last encounter in Florida on points, he looked and sounded like someone who thinks he is winning the race. His calm demeanour, his refusal to rise to the bait, was the governor rehearsing for his next role in life, commander-in-chief. The gods alone know if this will actually come to pass but at this stage it’s a toss up, which is extraordinary when you consider where this race was just a month ago.
What spooked me last night was the fact that when America talks about foreign policy it is still talking mainly about the Middle East with some China thrown in for good measure. Europe, whose mess poses a much greater threat to the US recovery, didn’t get a single mention.
Both candidates talked about strength as if it was the solution to America’s and the world’s problems. Obama called America the indispensable nation. The candidates cling to exceptionalism like a life raft. But what the rise of Asia, the mess of the Arab Spring and the Great Extrication from Afghanistan and Iraq have shown is that this country either can’t shape events abroad or has given up trying.
The students cavorting in the pool at Lynn University figured that one out a long time ago. I am sure I heard the girl in the stars and stripes bikini say: “Indispensable is sooo yesterday!”
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