COMMENTARY | You always want to make a good first impression, especially when you are taking the podium to set the tone for your possible run for the presidency. The GOP debate Thursday was the first televised debate in Iowa, the first major battleground for a presidential nomination.
Most of the questions were directed at four of the better known candidates: Michelle Bachman, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, and of course Mitt Romney. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to announce his bid for the nomination soon, and is considered a favorite by many members of the GOP.
The Republican Party has done a fantastic job in the lead-up to the election in getting their candidates proper exposure. The field is packed with well-known politicians who each believe a shot at Barack Obama in 2012 is a certain win. Meanwhile, the only opposition Obama is facing in his respective primary is Randall Terry, a pro-life activist who, according to Catholic Online, has been arrested several times, most recently at a commencement speech Obama delivered at Notre Dame.
It’s safe to say that Terry is not a candidate the Democrats will support. Given the state of the union and all the problems that have been exacerbated during this administration, I believe a proper candidate with charisma and brains would have a better shot at coming out of the election as the next president than Obama does at retaining his position.
The GOP debate saw more of Minnesota natives Michelle Bachman and Tim Pawlenty taking shots at one another. According to the Christian Science Monitor, Pawlenty accused Bachman of having never accomplished anything in Congress. Bachman fired back that Pawlenty’s record shows he is almost as liberal as Obama. Supposed frontrunner Mitt Romney remained unscathed by his opponents, but was shaken up pretty badly by Fox News panelists. The panelists did a good job of being tough on all the candidates, and they seemed to be better at eliciting newsworthy responses than the candidates were at handling their platforms.
I went into this debate with the preconceived notion that Fox News would posture itself to let the candidates handle the direction of the questioning. Judging by the reaction of Romney when the panelists began putting the screws to him over his most highly publicized blunders, I think the Republicans had the same notion. On paper Mitt Romney looks good, but overall he is a very weak candidate who is running in a crucial election. If he cannot shine in an early debate against sophomoric Republicans, he definitely will not shine in a contest with the incumbent president, no matter how versed he is in debasing Obama.