On "Too-Polite" Obama

Charles P. Pierce on President Obama's assertion that he was "too polite" in last week's debate, and that calling out Willard's lies would be "repetitive:"

"Has it dawned on you yet that you're holding down two jobs at the moment? You are president of the United States and you are a political candidate for re-election. Each job has different requirements and different emotional imperatives. In your capacity as a political candidate, nobody cares whether or not you find pointing out that Willard Romney was lying about his tax plan, lying about his health-care plan, and lying about virtually everything you've done as president repetitive — and, as long as we're being frank here, what a prissy academic word that is to describe what should be a full-throated defense of your own record against a truthless and dangerous mountebank. Calling a liar out on all his lies should be energizing. It should get your blood up. It is one of the most important things you can do in your job as a political candidate.

"In your job as a political candidate, you are not allowed to find things like Willard Romney's lying — and its unsightly offspring, his evolving positions on virtually every important issue of the day — too boring to be worthy of your time and effort. It is your job to turn this most ridiculous man and his ridiculous positions into the fuel for your campaign, the grist for your mill, the garbage for your flux capacitor. One thing you don't need right now is the lofty disdain of a man who's already president. Leave that stuff back in the Oval. You don't work there right now."

Perhaps the President and his handlers will absorb this lesson before the next debate.