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FAIR USE NOTICE FAIR USE NOTICE: This page may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This website distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for scientific, research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107.
Romney walked away happy. But at least the president defended his own
record with integrity. Deepak Chopra on why Mitt’s Etch-a-Sketch shake
won’t last.
Personally,
I was glad that President Obama debated the way he did, despite
alarmist signals from commentators who had already set up a victory for
Romney in advance. They got what they predicted. But the first presidential debate
came at the peak of a highly effective fall campaign by the president
and his team. They successfully painted a negative portrait of Governor
Romney that gave them a lead in all the swing states. That portrait had
to be set up against the actual person that Romney is. Debates exist so
that voters can see who they are voting for.
President Barack Obama smiles during the debate at the University of Denver on Oct. 3, 2012 (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
At
the height of his appeal, sometime during the Republican primary
season, Romney rose to the status of “eh.” The party faithful were not
very enthusiastic about him; the right wing was positively distrustful.
It was very smart of Romney to realize that he had to throw out the
window every policy, virtually, that he has campaigned on so far. Obama
was thrown off stride by Romney’s Etch-a-Sketch tactics. Undecided
voters don’t pay attention until the last minute in the election season.
Many won’t realize that Romney, suddenly playing the part of a nice,
reasonable governor from Massachusetts, was showing a totally different
face. But this kind of flip-flopping can be used against him, too.
There
were times during the debate when any progressive was probably
shouting, “Liar, liar, pants on fire” into the television. That Obama
didn’t do the same has caused dismay among the ranks. But there has been
constant pressure on him to stand up for his policies and run on his
record. He did that. Acting with complete genuineness, he told the
nation that his policies have averted disaster and set the economy on
the right footing, while he pointed out that Romney would roll
Washington back to the Bush era.
Romney
may get a second look, although presidential debates rarely change the
course of the race. It’s an open question whether Romney achieved much
more than becoming the “eh” candidate once more. Democrats feared him
when the conventional wisdom was that Obama was playing a losing
hand—with historically high unemployment, sluggish growth, and a rising
deficit, he would lose if the election became a referendum on his
record. The enthusiasm gap supposedly favored Romney. Partisan voter ID
laws would disenfranchise a huge number of poor, young, elderly, and
minority voters.
Most
of that didn’t happen. As it stands, Obama by no means holds a losing
hand. He was on the verge of making this a breakout election, and if the
race tightens because the president debated with integrity and allowed
Romney to become more human, that strikes me as fair. There’s still
plenty of time to call Romney on his whoppers. The PACs and super PACs
will keep drilling the 47 percent theme. Romney landed no decisive
blows. Instant analysis of Twitter didn’t indicate that voters were
being swayed. The main topic of conversation, and the only big trend,
was Big Bird. The progress that Obama has made over the last six months
should be enough for him to win—and win the right way. The candidate who
inspires hope, trust, compassion, and stability, and
who outlines specific action steps to achieve his goals deserves to win.
Deepak Chopra is the author God: A Story of Revelation, in addition to more than other 60 books that have been translated into more than 80 languages and include numerous New York Times
bestsellers. Dr. Chopra is a fellow of the American College of
Physicians, a member of the American Association of Clinical
Endocrinologists, adjunct professor at Kellogg School of Management, and
senior scientist with The Gallup Organization. Time magazine has
described Dr. Chopra as one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the
century and credits him as “the poet-prophet of alternative medicine.”
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