The Obligatory Debate Post

Just because I've posted after the previous debates, it almost feels like an obligation to post something about last night.  The media script was written well before the debate started last night, the headline being "Obama Recovers to Win Debate Number Two".

So let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. Candy Crowley was the homer referee who went out of her way to help Obama.  Obama lied and spun and pandered as expected.  Romney was fairly solid, but I think he moderated his message too much and left lots of stuff on the table.  My biggest disappointment was that he passed up the opening Obama gave him to hammer the HHS Mandate after Obama bragged about it.

What I hope people start to come away from these debates with isn't who scored more points or who won the rhetorical battle, but what's the actual substance of each candidate's promises for the next 4 years?

Romney's given us plenty of policy initiatives to consider, and Obama's vociferously objected to every one of them.  But what policy initiatives is Obama promising for the next 4 years?

The only one we all know for sure is his obsessive focus on increasing taxes on the rich.  Even though he keeps talking about "millionaires and billionaires", his actual proposal is to tax everybody that earns over $200K ($250 for couples).

What else does he propose?  If you listen closely, you might come up with this list, which interestingly enough involves only spending increases, except for the military.

More money for:
Planned Parenthood
Green Energy (more Solyndras, O boy!)
Education

Cut money for the military.

Perhaps Romney's best point of the night was his comment that if we re-elect Obama, we have the past 4 years of experience to tell us what we'll get the next 4.  More of the same.  I think not only more of the same, but exponentially more government control and dictatorial policies.

Suddenly it's become clear that the only hope for the nation is that enough citizens have just enough brains to figure out just how bad Obama policies have been and will be for the nation and everyone's well-being and vote for the other guy.  They may not be excited about Mitt, but must begin to realize that he's our only way out of this terrible mess.