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Politics & Media
Oct 04, 2012, 04:29AM

Obama Supporters: Fucking Chill Out

It’s the end of the world!

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concreteloop.com

The debates don't really matter that much. This is not a secret; in the run-up to last night, lots of people (like Jonathan Bernstein) pointed out that (a) virtually everyone has already made up their mind at this point, (b) people who haven't made up their mind tend to ignore politics completely, and probably didn't even know a debate was going on. To this it's probably worth adding that debates are going to be, if anything, less important this cycle, since early voting is increasingly popular and has already started. It's very unlikely that the debates are going to change the votes of people who have already voted in Iowa.

So, since everybody knows the debates don't matter, you'd think that pundits following the debates would preface their remarks by noting the debates don't matter? Right?

Of course not. Instead, many Obama supporters reacted as if the debates were the political equivalent of Obama admitting that, hey, the birthers were right all along. Tim Wise 's Twitter feed spewed frustration and spittle as he declaimed that Romney "won this debate by an f'ng landslide because the president is so cautious and surprisingly weak." Even more hysterical was Andrew Sullivan, who emitted a bleating, despairing cry from the cross: "How is Obama's closing statement so fucking sad, confused and lame? He choked. He lost. He may even have lost the election tonight." Even statistician Nate Silver, who should know better for algorithm's sake, compared Obama's performance to the Romney debate right before Gingrich surged by 22 points. If Romney surges by 22 points, I solemnly promise to turn into a zombie and eat Nate Silver's brain.

I understand the frustration. Obama was not especially effective, and absolutely refused to attack. I wish he'd pointed out just once that firing Big Bird actually results in someone losing their job. Raising taxes may reduce job growth, but cutting government spending, and firing people from government jobs, is an even surer way of increasing unemployment. Public sector jobs are jobs, and the contraction of the public sector is currently the main driver of joblessness. How hard would that have been to say?

But if the debates weren't going to matter that much on Wednesday morning, they still aren't going to have mattered much on Thursday morning. Obama didn't do himself any favors, and both pundits and the public think he lost. But he didn't pull a Rick Perry—there was no catastrophic gaffe. Polls may shift slightly towards Romney, and pro-Obama folks are going to have to live through a few cycles of Republican crowing and general media concern trolling. But the race isn't fundamentally altered. So to all you madly flapping, pro-Obama pundits, I say to you: chill the fuck out.

Noah Berlatsky (@hoodedu) blogs at hoodedutilitarian.com.

Discussion
  • Agreed. Nothing has really changed at this point. If Obama has two more performances like the last one he could be in trouble. But, what is the real likelyhood of that happening?

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  • It's not even clear to me he'd be in trouble then, is the truth. I guess we'll see if the polls move from this one...but I just doubt the debates matter that much unless someone really screws up spectacularly. Which isn't going to happen.

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  • My guess is that you're both right. What last night re-inforced is just how absurd the amount of media coverage there's been in this presidential year. The Obama supporters in the media assumed the election was over; so they're crushed. Which says to me that news organizations should either re-assign or lay off the excess political writers. The polls will move, inevitably, and, depending on tomorrow's jobs report, could get dicey for Obama. But it's hard to believe that Obama can be that bad again or that Romney can have another gaffe-free performance.

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