Not a nice guy

President Obama is an astute political junkie like any other astute political junkie, except that he is president, which means he is rather busy, and it is therefore possible that he hasn't had the time to pay enough attention to really understand the personality of Mitt Romney. It is possible that he hasn't had the time to pay enough attention to really comprehend just how depraved Mitt Romney is. Almost all politicians lie, and the greater their ambitions, and the higher they climb on the rungs of political hierarchy, the greater are the odds that lying will become taken for granted as but another of their basic political skills. All presidents lies. All presidents have lied. All nominees to be president have lied. This is a given. This is no surprise. But Mitt Romney isn't any ordinary liar.

Four years ago, then-Sen. Obama faced still-Sen. McCain, and of course being a skilled and astute political junkie and politician, Obama understood that McCain would tell an occassional lie. McCain revealed himself as cranky, and at times nasty, but he never was more than a garden-variety Republican liar. Nothing special, in that regard. Mitt Romney is different. Mitt Romney tells lies as naturally as he breathes. His entire campaign is constructed of lies. His entire identity is constructed of lies. Mitt Romney wouldn't find the truth if given a map, a compass, GPS and professional guides, because Mitt Romney isn't even interested in finding the truth.

President Obama's problems in the first debate were twofold, and one was about style and the other substance. On style, the president seemed too passive and reserved, while Romney seemed like he had had an extra couple cups of coffee, which may not be something to which Romney is habituated. He seemed hyped. Like a frenetic gerbil. And while at least some weren't charmed by his running roughshod over the hapless Jim Lehrer, most of the pundits and a good majority of the viewers seem to think he came off as aggressive and passionate.

The second problem for President Obama was that he seemed unprepared to deal with someone as gleefully mendacious as Romney, and if there was one characteristic that best defined Romney's demeanor during the debate, it was his glee. He was having fun. He was telling lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie, and tens of millions of people were watching, and many of them were not informed enough to know that Romney was trying to become the Michael Phelps of political mendacity, and Romney was having the time of his life.

(Continue reading below the fold.)

