COMMENTARY | Fox News and Google hosted a GOP presidential debate in pivotal swing state Florida Thursday night. It was a full stage full of echoes, consisting of frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, along with second-tier candidates Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, and Gary Johnson also participated.
The third tier seemed to provide most of the entertainment, with Santorum trying to appear committed and passionate but mostly looking angry with his Rick Perry-ish, odd-looking smile. Far enough behind in the polls that he doesn't even register in the Real Clear Politics average, Johnson did have one of the night's best lines when he commented that his neighbor's dogs had created more shovel-ready jobs than were in Obama's stimulus bill.
Along with the lines, two individuals really stood out as talented and skilled debaters. Gingrich is one of the smartest politicians alive, and he knows it. His ego will keep him from the nomination, but he will likely be a valuable adviser to the next administration. Mitt Romney is the other candidate with outstanding debating skills, and therein lies the problem.
As much as I want to, I just can't seem to like Romney. He and the other candidates successfully teamed up on Perry, a candidate who is not the strongest debater to begin with. Romney always looked poised, was generally smooth in his delivery, and ?made me feel like he was trying to sell me a used car. Wait, I'm sorry, that may have been offensive to used car salesmen.
Romney seems to be a stand up kind of guy, but I don't feel as if he really stands for anything other than Mitt Romney. As a one-term governor of Massachusetts, he rails against career politicians, but if he hadn't lost the 1994 Senate race in Massachusetts, he'd be a career politician himself. My feeling is that he is a career politician who just didn't get elected as often as he would like.
Looking deeper at his debate performances, he always has the answer ready, but it seems to be in a condescending manner, both to the voters watching and to the other candidates when they engage directly. It's as if he is very polished, very practiced, and very prepared to give the canned answer, but the answers come from a script that has been well-memorized.
While I disagree with the budget-busting universal health care plan he signed in Massachusetts, I do appreciate his willingness to not try to back away from it. Regardless of him saying it is a good plan at the state level, I can't see a difference between state governments mandating all citizens buy a product vs. the federal government with the same mandate. He doesn't seem as conservative as he would have us believe.
Contrasted with Perry's passion and willingness to state what he believes, albeit sometimes ineloquently, Romney is very good at saying what he wants to say, but I'm just not sure he believes it. He's nearly unflappable in the debate arena, seeming to never lose his cool. Unfortunately, we elected the same kind of cool, smooth-talking politician in 2008 and it hasn't gotten us anywhere. Romney appears to believe more in government than he does in the people. As a conservative independent, I just don't trust Romney when he flaunts his "conservative" credentials. As Austin Powers might say, he gives me that creepy Oompa Loompa vibe.
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Cities can help solve many of humankind?s most pressing problems, a topic that is explored in-depth in Scientific American?s September single-topic issue. In fact, today?s cities are increasingly pointing the way toward solutions, rather than simply being a source of health, social and environmental problems. For instance, people living in urban areas produce more patents, leave smaller carbon footprints and tend to live longer, healthier lives. The mechanisms and policies behind these trends are sparking an increase in public discourse on the future role of cities in global growth.
