Opinion

Obama campaign peaked too early to win second term

Steven Kurlander
Published: October 6, 2012

A political earthquake shook the presidential race Wednesday night when Mitt Romney out-debated President Obama and changed the narrative for the campaign's remaining four weeks.

The Mitt Romney who appeared on stage in Denver was a brand new, electrifying candidate — presidential in his knowledge and oratory, controlling the pulse of the debate.

For the entire 90 minutes, Romney was gregarious, animated and tough, shedding the stiff aura that has characterized his campaign style. Suddenly, he became a lot easier to warm up to, a viable alternative to Obama.

Romney took every opportunity to draw sharp contrasts to his opponent's dogma, record and style, driving particularly hard against the president's failed economic policies as moderator Jim Lehrer, listlessly enforcing the debate's time limits, sat back and watched the candidates argue back and forth.

For those who have followed and supported the rise of Romney's candidacy, and for Republicans and conservatives in general, the debate created a groundswell of renewed optimism about their candidate.

Here was a reborn Romney, not the rich, unfeeling Bain executive who dismissed 47 percent of Americans as unreachable. Instead, he grabbed our attention by speaking forcefully against the failure of "trickle-down government" in resolving our nation's ills.

Romney walked off the stage with new and critical momentum that, barring serious mishaps on the campaign trail or in the next two debates, should put him over the top in a close race to the White House.

The magnetism that has characterized Obama as the candidate in 2008 and as president these last three years was missing Wednesday night. He appeared much older and more weary, lacking in spunk and genuineness.

The success of political campaigns often comes down to a few defining moments that capture the essence of a candidate. The power of debates is that they can provide those moments for those who come prepared.

Looking back, historians will mark Wednesday's first debate as a pivot point in the 2012 presidential cycle, showing that Obama's recent strength in polling — particularly in critical states like Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania — reveals a candidate who peaked too early to win a second term.

Steven Kurlander blogs at Kurly's Kommentary, writes a weekly column for Fort Lauderdale's Sun-Sentinel and is a South Florida communications strategist.