Too Much

I don't do very well with debates. Just ask my debater-mock trialer daughter. I have to leave during closing arguments. I can only make it through one round of Lincoln-Douglas. It's just too much embarrassment for me to absorb.

So here I am listening—from afar—to the first presidential debate between Obama and Romney. I say "from afar" because my son has C-SPAN on in the next room from where my office is. I can't help but overhear some of the talking. And frankly, it's awful. There is smugness. There is animosity. There is bloviation. These things are mostly on one side.

The President looks annoyed to be there. He looks down at the podium or his notes or something and makes very little eye contact—except an occasional glare at moderator Jim Lehrer as if to say, "Would you please stop him?" Romney seems a little more open and comfortable, I think. He does have a certain "You gotta be kidding me" air about him. No, sadly, Mr. Romney, the President's not kidding. I think he really believes what he's saying.

And that's embarrassing.