Romney gets drilled while Obama gets pass on ’60 Minutes’

Gov. Mitt Romney didn't get the sweet deal '60 Minutes' gave President Barack Obama. (Photo: Romney campaign)Did you watch the 60 Minutes interviews with President Barack Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Sunday?

I admit I didn’t expect much from an alphabet network. I did notice a striking contrast in questions asked of the two candidates.

Romney got drilled on those famous “specifics” no one drilled Obama on in 2008 and no one’s drilling Obama on in 2012.

Obama (predictably) blamed Republicans for his own failures although he had Democrat majorities in both the House and the Senate for the first two years of his term.

The personality who interviewed Romney appeared totally clueless about the tax code. Like others in pop culture media, the interviewer wanted to know what loopholes Romney would zap.

Romney said he’d work that out with Congress, and that’s exactly the way to go about it. Why? As of June, 2012, there were 72,536 pages of federal tax rules, according to the Cato Institute.

In contrast to Romney, Obama wasn’t asked for specifics.

Nor was Obama asked about the scandals most media have downplayed on his behalf—Fast and Furious, Solyndra, waivers to Big Labor for ObamaCare, overturning federal immigration law, an obviously unguarded U.S. Consulate in Libya that cost the lives of Americans.

As Obama’s foreign policy lies in ruins around the globe, not a single question addressed  the Middle East breakdown.

Nor was Obama asked about his failed promise to cut the federal deficit in half.

I noticed the extreme closeup angle of the camera during most of Romney’s interview—on Obama’s, the camera was not as close. The extreme closeup on Romney suggested closer scrutiny.

I also noticed a point that was mentioned twice—that under Romney, we will see “a smaller government than Americans have ever seen.” While I sincerely wish that was true, it isn’t. It would take more than a decade to bring that about and the deliberate construction of a welfare society Democrats are creating will prohibit that anyway. Buying votes with taxpayer money is a great way to ensure success, at least until you run out of money.

Romney was asked about changing his positions on issues, but only Romney pointed out Obama’s changed positions.

There are excerpts at CBS that were left out of the TV interviews, including false advertising by Democrats. Obama didn’t hesitate to confirm he approved “the majority” of his ads. The interviewer didn’t call Obama out on untrue claims about taxes on the middle class, a claim Democrats continue to make that is false.

Romney did well, I thought; Obama came across as the usual “star-in-chief.”

For insight on Obama’s claims about job numbers, check out an interesting analysis at Political Math Blog showing how creative Dems get when they talk about jobs gained vs. jobs lost.

The most egregious lapse in the Obama interview was the omission of questions about the ObamaCare tax bill. No one mentioned the impact of the more than 18 taxes in that bill, some of which will affect the middle class and seniors.

Nor did anyone ask Obama why, if the labor unions were so hot and heavy to get the bill passed, most waivers were given to labor organizations worried about taxes on so-called ‘Cadillac Plans.’ Nor did the interviewer point out those more than $716 billion in cuts to Medicare in ObamaCare won’t kick in until after election day.

One thing Romney might make use of when it comes to government cuts—Sen. Tom Coburn’s Back in Black plan offered up $9 trillion in ideas for cuts. Americans wouldn’t miss a single thing Coburn wants to cut, by the way.

In case you’re a newcomer to The US Report, I’ll disclose that I’m personally supporting Romney.

No one asked Obama about a major gaffe—his memory lapse on David Letterman regarding the federal deficit. To date, no media have pointed out Obama walked out on talks with Congress about the deficit.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Sept. 24, 2012)

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