This week's GOP presidential debate was less of an opening skirmish and more of a big group hug – an odd launch of the Republican side of the race considering how uncivil our national discourse has become.
But I guess I forgot the rule of the primaries, where you move toward the right (or the left) before shifting back to the center for the general election. So the (debatable) debate this week evolved into more of a Reagan-esque exercise in playing nice with each other while spending the bulk of the two hours bashing the sitting president.
And while there's nothing necessarily wrong with preaching to the choir, that's what Sundays are for. I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure the people most interested in the debate don't need convincing that President Obama's not the best man for the job.
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Or, as a good friend of mine in the business told me the morning after, "No one is going to win by simply attacking Obama."
History loves to repeat itself, but which rerun will we end up with next year? The one where Obama channels a hapless one-term President Carter saddled with creeping inflation and high unemployment? Or the Obama as a struggling President Clinton facing an even-more uninspired Republican challenger before steamrolling into a second term by a landslide.
I think this one could still go either way. But the GOP has got to get on the same page and lose the unelectable baggage of candidates such as Bachman, Cain and Gingrich.
And don't start pounding me with hate mail thinking I'm bashing the GOP. I'm not. But I'm not playing the part of one of Lebron James's groupies either.
Mitt Romney clearly emerged from last night's kerfuffle as more of a front-runner than ever. His defense – for lack of a better word – of his health reform law has been polished and I'll reiterate what I've said time and again: He has a better shot at beating Obama than anyone else on that stage.
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