Obama on last week’s debate: ‘I was just too polite’

[Joe Biden is your president. Deal with it.]

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[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Damn right he was.

[Northeast Rep Snowball]

ah, this is smart, making him look good but avoiding the negative polls that happen if he actually isn't nice, Good Job.

[pbrower2a]

I would rather have a polite President than a hothead, at least on foreign policy. 

[Eraserhead]

I'm thinking the bigger issue was that he looked like he was half asleep in the second half of it.

[milhouse24]

Obama had a safe lead in the polls, and he didn't want to scare away any white swing voters. 

He has always been the "safe black man" you can bring home to dinner to your white parents, and he has cultivated that image and personality all his life and with the media.  There are too many negative black male role models, and the media has certainly helped Obama's case because he is seen as one of the few mainstream Black politicians who can cross over and appeal to white voters, because Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were never able to appeal to white voters. 

Perhaps it is due to Obama's lighter skin tone, than Jackson or Sharpton.  But as any Black Male knows, white people are easily scared and intimidated of Black men.  Every black man has encountered white racism or scared white people.  Obama understands that white voters are too sensitive to aggressive Black men.  He did not want to risk appearing as the media's stereotypical "angry black man" and lost his slim lead in the polls.  The media can only treat black men as caricatures between "safe" or "angry" and Obama's only option was to go the polite and safe route.

[Link]

Obama had a safe lead in the polls, and he didn't want to scare away any white swing voters. 

He has always been the "safe black man" you can bring home to dinner to your white parents, and he has cultivated that image and personality all his life and with the media.  There are too many negative black male role models, and the media has certainly helped Obama's case because he is seen as one of the few mainstream Black politicians who can cross over and appeal to white voters, because Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were never able to appeal to white voters. 

Perhaps it is due to Obama's lighter skin tone, than Jackson or Sharpton.  But as any Black Male knows, white people are easily scared and intimidated of Black men.  Every black man has encountered white racism or scared white people.  Obama understands that white voters are too sensitive to aggressive Black men.  He did not want to risk appearing as the media's stereotypical "angry black man" and lost his slim lead in the polls.  The media can only treat black men as caricatures between "safe" or "angry" and Obama's only option was to go the polite and safe route.

WTF?!

Dude Obama isn't "cultivating" anything.  He has always been a polite person.  It's his personality and how he was raised.  Drop all this racial nonsense.  I really feel bad for people that spend this much time with this kind of nonsense in their heads.

Some people just aren't rude.  Obama isn't rude and he sticks to his convictions.  Romney doesn't seem to be innately rude or racist either.  I have been disappointed with him when he's gone birther recently.  The problem with Romney is he doesn't stick to his convictions.  I defended Romney on multiple occasions against charges of racism and he disappointed me with his birther comment.  He knows it was wrong and if the primary hadn't pushed him so far to the right he would have never said anything like that.

The issue with the presidential debate is Romney came out and basically said stuff that was 100% the opposite of what he had been saying for YEARS.  Where I was raised it is rude to call someone a liar in front of a room full of people unless they are on trial.  In real life even when I know someone is lying it is very difficult for me to call them out let alone in front of other people.  Frankly those people win in real life because most of us are too genteel to call them liars.  I've seen this numerous times in the work place.  The people that are polite, dutiful, keep their heads down, and just get the job down lose out to the sociopaths that lie their @$$ off.  The presidential debate was awkward and the response in the polls was stunning.  You really have to wonder about an electorate that will swing several points in a poll after one 90 minute debate where the winner basically says I'm disavowing everything I've said for years.  I mean no one with any level of certainty can tell me what Romney will do if he wins.

Now all that is not to say Obama shouldn't have been more aggressive.  He should have been.  I'm just saying to a certain degree I understand.  I've dealt with characters like Romney and I've dealt with individuals like the ones who's decision was influenced by Romney's performance and truly in my adult life those were some of the worst experiences I've ever had.  It's pretty tough to lay down a consistent track record and then have some used care salesmen stroll in and make a slanderous statement and have the higher ups just go along with it simply because you are too busy doing your job to engage in bickering and name calling.

[Jacob]

Obama had a safe lead in the polls, and he didn't want to scare away any white swing voters. 

He has always been the "safe black man" you can bring home to dinner to your white parents, and he has cultivated that image and personality all his life and with the media.  There are too many negative black male role models, and the media has certainly helped Obama's case because he is seen as one of the few mainstream Black politicians who can cross over and appeal to white voters, because Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were never able to appeal to white voters. 

Perhaps it is due to Obama's lighter skin tone, than Jackson or Sharpton.  But as any Black Male knows, white people are easily scared and intimidated of Black men.  Every black man has encountered white racism or scared white people.  Obama understands that white voters are too sensitive to aggressive Black men.  He did not want to risk appearing as the media's stereotypical "angry black man" and lost his slim lead in the polls.  The media can only treat black men as caricatures between "safe" or "angry" and Obama's only option was to go the polite and safe route.

WTF?!

Dude Obama isn't "cultivating" anything.  He has always been a polite person.  It's his personality and how he was raised.  Drop all this racial nonsense.  I really feel bad for people that spend this much time with this kind of nonsense in their heads.

Some people just aren't rude.  Obama isn't rude and he sticks to his convictions.  Romney doesn't seem to be innately rude or racist either.  I have been disappointed with him when he's gone birther recently.  The problem with Romney is he doesn't stick to his convictions.  I defended Romney on multiple occasions against charges of racism and he disappointed me with his birther comment.  He knows it was wrong and if the primary hadn't pushed him so far to the right he would have never said anything like that.

The issue with the presidential debate is Romney came out and basically said stuff that was 100% the opposite of what he had been saying for YEARS.  Where I was raised it is rude to call someone a liar in front of a room full of people unless they are on trial.  In real life even when I know someone is lying it is very difficult for me to call them out let alone in front of other people.  Frankly those people win in real life because most of us are too genteel to call them liars.  I've seen this numerous times in the work place.  The people that are polite, dutiful, keep their heads down, and just get the job down lose out to the sociopaths that lie their @$$ off.  The presidential debate was awkward and the response in the polls was stunning.  You really have to wonder about an electorate that will swing several points in a poll after one 90 minute debate where the winner basically says I'm disavowing everything I've said for years.  I mean no one with any level of certainty can tell me what Romney will do if he wins.

Now all that is not to say Obama shouldn't have been more aggressive.  He should have been.  I'm just saying to a certain degree I understand.  I've dealt with characters like Romney and I've dealt with individuals like the ones who's decision was influenced by Romney's performance and truly in my adult life those were some of the worst experiences I've ever had.  It's pretty tough to lay down a consistent track record and then have some used care salesmen stroll in and make a slanderous statement and have the higher ups just go along with it simply because you are too busy doing your job to engage in bickering and name calling.

Face facts. Milhouse is pasty white and in the bottom quintile for intelligence. And yes, he is trolling. I fed him yesterday but now I think he's about to bust another button on his jeans so we should probably stop. The only thing worse than a race-baiting troll is a fat race-baiting troll who got that way by being overfed by liberals.

[DrScholl]

Bottom line, he tried not to ruin his lead by trying to play it low key, but in the end he just made things a lot more difficult for him than they have to be.

[opebo]

milhouse is certainly correct that for Obama, the debate is all about the delicate process of winning over or at least not alienating racist white voters.

However let us be fair, milhouse, the reason white people fear angry black men is because they know they are guilty, and deserve everything they get.

[milhouse24]

I agree with opebo, except for the advocating of murder. 

[Jacob]

milhouse is certainly correct that for Obama, the debate is all about the delicate process of winning over or at least not alienating racist white voters.

However let us be fair, milhouse, the reason white people fear angry black men is because they know they are guilty, and deserve everything they get.

Over the top.

[Lincoln Republican]

I was too polite, code for I got my butt kicked big time.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Obama saw he was up in the polls, and did a Tom Dewey and took the "safe" route, which was a major mistake.

[Lief 🗽]

I can't wait to read the 2012-version of Game Change to see wtf really happened to Obama in the first debate.

[milhouse24]

I can't wait to read the 2012-version of Game Change to see wtf really happened to Obama in the first debate.

Obama just got over-confident and bought into the hype and the poll numbers.  He thought Romney would suck big time and say something idiotic again like the 47%.  He didn't want to alienate white swing voters if there was no need to risk his lead in the polls.