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Now it's about enthusiasm and voter turnout
Two weeks to go before America chooses a new president.
Last night’s final TV-debate between president Obama and Mitt Romney was probably not decisive, although the fact that Obama won certainly will not hurt him in the final stretch run of the campaign. But how much will it help as the campaign intensifies before the verdict on November 6? We don’t know that yet.
Actually, the final debate was fairly even. Neither candidate made any major mistake. In fact, you could argue that there was no real debate, for Romney had decided to hold back, be cautious – presidential! His earlier criticism of Obama’s foreign policy was replaced by a broad consensus between the two candidates about America’s role in the world and president Obama’s foreign policy.
Romney had clearly made a decision not to seem like a war hawk, not to seem like someone seeking new conflicts and new wars for America in the Middle East. America is tired of war. By doing so, he moved towards the political center, towards a more moderate policy, just like he had done in the first debate on economic policy and taxes.
It proved difficult for Obama to land a punch on this “kinder, gentler Romney,” wrote Los Angeles Times’ columnist Doyle McManus.
In fact, Obama seemed a bit startled at Romney’s transformation, although the president kept up his attacks, calling Romney’s foreign policy “all over the map” and charging him for trying to “air brush history.”
Why the subdued, cautious Romney? Was he playing it safe in a race that now seemed more even than ever? Maybe. But as a result, he seemed cautious and hesitant and he came to stand in stark contrast to a firm, straight talking, decisive president, who said he had done what he promised to do when he became president, and that he was the best one to lead America in the next four years and end the war in Afghanistan and concentrate on nation building at home.
Foreign policy is not, and has not been, the main theme in this campaign. That makes it harder to predict the impact of this debate on the voters, especially since they largely have made up their minds by now. It’s now time to build up the enthusiasm among the supporters for each candidate and then get them to vote. Turnout could decide this election.
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A Swede's view from D.C.
Internationally renowned journalist Klas Bergman will on a continuous basis cover the 2012 U.S. election process from a Swedish American perspective. Born in Stockholm, Bergman spent most of his adult life outside Sweden, reporting from western and eastern Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., based in Washington, DC and working mainly for the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter and the Christian Science Monitor.
His primary domicile has been America, ever since his early student days in California in the 1960s. He now lives in the Washington, DC area.
For more information on the columnist and communications specialist, see http://ksbergman.wordpress.com
Klas Bergman's second book, "Drömmarnas Land" is released in Sweden on Sept. 20. isbn 978 91 7331 515 9. 278 pages, hard cover, in Swedish.
Carlsson Bokförlag.
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