By: Skeeter Sanders

Skeeter Sanders — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 05:53:29 +0000

Yes, President Obama’s performance in the first televised fall-campaign debate was the worst of his career — but when you look at the history of presidential debates in this country, the first encounter has never been kind to incumbents seeking re-election.

Look at 1976, when President Gerald Ford made his colossal blunder about “No Soviet forces occupying Eastern Europe,” or 1980 when the man who beat Ford, President Jimmy Carter, was laid waste by Ronald Reagan in their one and only debate when Reagan asked viewers, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” With the country plunging into a recession on Carter’s watch — combined with the Iran hostage crisis — the answer to Reagan’s question was an obvious “No.”

Then there’s 1984, when then-President Reagan looked tired and out of touch in his first debate with Walter Mondale. Bill Clinton had his rough moments in his first debate with Bob Dole and Ross Perot in 1996. And George W. Bush’s opening debate with John Kerry in 2004 was hardly his best performance, either.

Comments on: 2012 was a very good year

By: Skeeter Sanders