Norah O'Donnell made it clear on Monday's CBS This Morning
that her job as anchor is to repeat her stick-a-fork-in-Romney mantra
and boost President Obama. On the issue of the upcoming debates,
O'Donnell asserted, "We already know he [Romney] has high negatives - perhaps, a likeability problem." She later asked if "we see the competitive President Obama...or will we see the cool, constitutional law professor?"
The anchor couldn't be bothered to bring up the continuing unrest in
the Middle East; the related issue of the Obama administration's
changing story as to what happened in the terrorist attack on the U.S.
consulate in Benghazi, Libya; or the new developments in the Fast and
Furious controversy.
O'Donnell and co-anchor Charlie Rose brought on the National Journal's
Major Garrett for his take the two presidential candidate's
preparations for the first debate on Wednesday. Rose asked about "what
surprises might we expect, and what's the strategy for these two going
into this debate." When Garrett touched on Chris Christie's confident
prediction about Romney on Sunday's Face the Nation, the PBS veteran wondered, "Doesn't it create rising expectations?"
The former Fox News journalist continued by pointing out that "on the other side, the President has been systematically – and those who support him - lowering expectations....I mean, they are systematically trying to say, if Romney scores, it doesn't matter. Well, in fact, it will matter, and that's what we're going to tune in for on Wednesday."
O'Donnell then chimed in with her bucket of cold water for Romney and
her fluff about Mr. "Competitive" or "Professor" Obama showing up at the
debate. To his credit, Garrett pointed out a possible weak spot for the
President:
O'DONNELL:
Let's talk about the challenges for each of the candidates - first, the
Republican, Mitt Romney. We already know he has high negatives -
perhaps, a likeability problem. How does that affect whether how
hard he can go against President Obama, in terms of drawing some of the
distinctions that many conservatives say he needs to do?
GARRETT: Zingers and one-liners in presidential debates resonate
because they fit within a larger narrative. And I will tell you right
now, the two campaigns understand this about the narrative. The obama
campaign has been better at framing it around Mitt Romney, than Mitt
Romney has been framing it around the President. And so, the Obama
campaign believes, even if there are devastating or memorable zingers,
if they don't fit within the narrative - which they believe they control
- it won't last and alter the underlying dynamics of this race. The
Romney campaign fears that might be true, but wants to try it's very
best to alter that narrative. I-
O'DONNELL: And then, what about President Obama? Will we see the
competitive President Obama that -privately, people say - really
dislikes Mitt Romney; or will we see the cool, constitutional law
professor?
GARRETT: Well, both, because to win - because he's competitive - he
needs to be cool, and he knows that, and that's the one overriding
concern presented to him by his advisers. Don't freak out; don't get
anxious; don't get publicly, visibly irritable.
The former NBC correspondent has been spotlighting the bad news for the
former Massachusetts governor for the better part of three weeks. She
asserted in a contentious interview of Senator Rob Portman [1] on September 13 that Romney "stepped in it" with regard to his attack on the administration's response to the protests in the Middle East. Four days later [2], O'Donnell played up a Politico report about supposed "turmoil" inside the Republican candidate's campaign. On September 26's CBS This Morning, the CBS anchor twice wondered [3], "is it too late" for Romney.
The full transcript of the Major Garrett segment from Monday's CBS This Morning:
NORAH O'DONNELL: Now to presidential politics, and the first debate is coming
up on Wednesday. Usually, both sides try to lower expectations for
their candidates. That's what President Obama did on Sunday. But one of
Mitt Romney's leading supporters had a different view.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (from campaign event): I know folks in the media are speculating already on who's going
to have the best zingers - who's going to put the most points on the
board. Governor Romney – he's a good debater. I'm just okay.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), NEW JERSEY (from CBS's "Face the Nation"): I've seen Mitt Romney do this before. He's going to come in
Wednesday night; he's going to lay out his vision for America; he's
going to contrast what his view is, with what the President's record is,
and the President's view for the future; and this whole race is going
to be turned upside down come Thursday morning.
[CBS News Graphic: "Race For The White House: Obama Lowers, Christie Raises Debate Expectations"]
CHARLIE ROSE: National Journal's White House correspondent, Major Garrett is with us now. Good morning.
MAJOR GARRETT, NATIONAL JOURNAL WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning – good to be with you.
ROSE: So, what surprises might we expect, and what's the strategy for these two going into this debate?
GARRETT: Why did Governor Christie say what he said, because he knows-
ROSE: Yeah, exactly. We were just talking about that- (O'Donnell laughs)
GARRETT: He knows – he knows Governor Romney needs an audience, because
if you look at the national polling data - ABC/Washington Post has a
poll out this morning - two-thirds of the country already believes
President Obama's going to win; he's going to win the debates. Well,
they're not going to tune in if they don't think there's something
exciting going on or likely to go on. So, Governor Christie said yes,
tune in, because we're going to change this race, because if it isn't
changed by Thursday - this debate doesn't fundamentally alter the
underlying narrative of this race - the Romney campaign believes or
fears, rather, that it could slip away.
[CBS News Graphic: "The Washington Post/ABC News Poll: Who Will Win The
Debate? Among Registered Voters: Obama, 56%; Romney, 29%; Margin of
Error: +/- 3.5%"]
ROSE: But doesn't it create rising expectations?
GARRETT: Of course, it does; of course, it does. And on the other side,
the President has been systematically – and those who support him -
lowering expectations. David Axelrod started talking to me in early
August - well, you know, the President is really out of practice. It's
been so long since he's been on a podium like this. I mean, they are
systematically trying to say, if Romney scores, it doesn't matter. Well,
in fact, it will matter, and that's what we're going to tune in for on
Wednesday.
O'DONNELL: Let's talk about the challenges for each of the candidates -
first, the Republican, Mitt Romney. We already know he has high
negatives - perhaps, a likeability problem. How does that affect whether
how hard he can go against President Obama, in terms of drawing some of
the distinctions that many conservatives say he needs to do?
[CBS News Graphic: "The Washington Post/ABC News Poll: Support For
President Obama Among Likely Voters: Nationwide, [Up] 2%; Swing States,
[Up] 11%; Margin of Error: +/- 4%"]
GARRETT: Zingers and one-liners in presidential debates resonate
because they fit within a larger narrative. And I will tell you right
now, the two campaigns understand this about the narrative. The obama
campaign has been better at framing it around Mitt Romney, than Mitt
Romney has been framing it around the President. And so, the Obama
campaign believes, even if there are devastating or memorable zingers,
if they don't fit within the narrative - which they believe they control
- it won't last and alter the underlying dynamics of this race. The
Romney campaign fears that might be true, but wants to try it's very
best to alter that narrative. I-
[CBS News Graphic: "The Washington Post/ABC News Poll: Who Will Win The
Presidency? Among Registered Voters: Obama, 63%; Romney, 31%; Margin of
Error: +/- 3.5%"]
O'DONNELL: And then, what about President Obama? Will we see the
competitive President Obama that -privately, people say - really
dislikes Mitt Romney; or will we see the cool, constitutional law
professor?
GARRETT: Well, both, because to win - because he's competitive - he
needs to be cool, and he knows that, and that's the one overriding
concern presented to him by his advisers. Don't freak out; don't get
anxious; don't get publicly, visibly irritable.
[CBS News Graphic: "Race For The White House: Candidates Focus On Debate Strategy"]
ROSE: A lot of people who support Mitt Romney, over the weekend on the
Sunday talk shows, were saying he has to be very aggressive. He really
has to take to it the President.
GARRETT: Well, what happens in presidential debates, is you have two
fundamental goals as a candidate: drive your message and knock your
opponent off his. And so, to knock the President off his message, the
Romney campaign knows Governor Romney has to be unrelenting.
ROSE: Romney has an op-ed talking about his view on foreign policy.
There seems to be some question within the Romney camp as to whether
they should even be talking about foreign policy.
[CBS News Graphic: "Race For The White House: Romney Looks For Turnaround"]
GARRETT: Well, this has been an ongoing debate since the Libya crisis,
and there were – in the immediate hours after that, when Governor
Romney, sort of, stepped into this, his advisers said, you know, we're
going to begin to prosecute this larger, more global argument against
the president's foreign policy mishandling the Arab spring. It's now
been weeks until this op-ed appeared. And if you look at that op-ed,
it's not just about foreign policy. It's about American trajectory in
the early part of the 21st century, and I think if Governor Romney
brings that to the table - foreign policy, economic policy, a recovery
that barely deserves the name, those kind of things - he pulls that
argument together, this race might look a little bit different on
Thursday.
ROSE: One last point: the force of gravity argument, the Obama
campaign, the President is doing better than you would expect because of
the economic circumstances-
GARRETT: Than every bit of historical data would tell us to expect - absolutely- why is that?
ROSE: Why is that?
[CBS News Graphic: "Race For The White House: What's Behind Obama's Rise In Polls?"]
GARRETT: Well, we at National Journal have a cover story - Beth
Reinhard, Jim Tankersley, and I - asked not the tactical question -
who's got the better tactics - but is there something happening to the
American psyche about expectations for economic growth, and expectations
of anyone in the political class to change their life for the better.
And we've concluded, based on a lot of interviews, we've diminished our
expectation - not only about Washington, but about what a recovery feels
like and looks like. The country is numbed and traumatized by recent
economic events, and, oddly enough, that, sort of, core level of
underlying hopelessness is benefitting the candidate who brought a
campaign message of hope four years ago.
O'DONNELL: Because many people think that the President could not do that much about it to influence the economy?
GARRETT: The President, the Congress, and they're not really sure any
idea right now is the one - or the set of one ideas - to transform our
economy from a low-lying recovery, to something that's better and more
productive in a globalized, very competitive economy.
O'DONNELL: Major Garrett – he's brilliant, right?
ROSE: Yes, good. Whatever you like- (O'Donnell laughs)
O'DONNELL: Thank you very much.
GARRETT: Thank you.