Incumbent Presidents and Presidential debates.

[No Elephants]

Rachael Maddow listed all the incumbents who have participated in Presidential debates. (There are not that many.)

All but one of the incumbent Presidents was considered to have lost the debate, including Reagan. The one incumbent who was declared a winner of his first debate right after the debate was the platinum-tongued and nit always candid, Clinton, aka Slick Willie.

Some incumbents who lost their first debate, like Reagan, went on to win the election; some, like Ford and Carter, did not.

In a prior post, made before the debate, I stated some reasons for this phenomenon:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2487694

Since then, I heard someone from Bloomberg News kind of confirm my statement about the pundits' self-interest. He said something like, "Now I can go home and tell my children that I still have a job until election day." Or words to that effect.

Anyway, there is probably a very significant reason I did not mention in my prior post, one that voters would do very well to keep in mind during campaign season:

The challenger has to defend only his campaign promises, which were carefully tailored to win votes in the first place; the incumbent has to defend his actual performance for the prior 33/4 years and, perhaps worse, how his actual performance measured up to his original campaign promises.

BTW, Obama is funnier than ever on the campaign trail now. It's no longer just Wall Street versus Main Street.

Now, it's Wall Street versus Sesame Street!

[No Elephants]

1. Forgot to mention:

1. Several years of being surrounded by "yes" people who praise, rationalize and justify everything you do.

2. Aside from family, the most important thing the challenger has to do is prepare for the debate.

Aside from family, the most important things an incumbent has to do is be the Chief Executive Officer of the United States, the Commander in Chief of the U.S. military and stuff like that. Preparing for the debate is a luxury.



Also, pundits who are acting as though Romney pulled off some spectacular feat are being as dishonest as Romney. They know the things on this thread and on the thread to which I linked in the OP better than I do and they know a lot more as well, because that is their job.

[Enthusiast]

2. I'm watching Rachel on this issue right now.

Leave it to Rachel to change our perspective.

Thanks, No Elephants. I appreciate your efforts on behalf of DU2.

[No Elephants]

3. You're welcome and right back at you, Enthusiast. DD, Me. and Contrary1 and the rest, too.