Posted on 10/04/2012 6:06:57 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The man who went to school with both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney and predicted the president would "smoke" the Republican nominee says he is dumbfounded by Obama's poor showing in the first debate.
"I'm surprised. I was shocked, actually," Sidney Barthwell, a district court magistrate in Michigan who attended Cranbrook with Romney and Harvard Law School with Obama, told The Daily. "That was not the Barack Obama I’ve seen through the years. I’m thinking the man might have had the flu or something."
Barthwell, who has remained friendly with both candidates over the years and is staying neutral in the presidential race, said earlier this year that he expected Obama to dominate in the face-offs.
“When they debate, Barack will smoke Romney,” Barthwell, 64, told The Daily in May. “Mitt Romney is smart,” he said at the time. “Having said all that, I still think he’s going to get smoked. The best he can do is hopefully come out not looking like a fool. Mitt will find out the hard way as soon as they have their first debate: You don’t debate Obama.”
Barthwell, the only black graduate of Mitt Romney's 1965 class at Cranbrook Schools, the prestigious boarding school in suburban Detroit, said Romney's former classmates have been pulling for the president.
"There’s been a lot of emails going back and forth between people in my class. The vast majority of them are very supportive of Barack and not Mitt Romney," he said. "It’s surprising to me because Cranbrook was a very conservative type of place."
Thursday, Barthwell said he barely recognized the president who appeared on stage at the first presidential debate this week in Denver. The Michigan man said his former law school classmate seemed out of it. "You never see Barack looking down all the time," he said of the president's performance Wednesday night, widely panned as lackluster, at best. "He was actually stumbling over his words. That was not the real Barack Obama in my opinion."
Barthwell also said the president was unusually reserved, even in the face of full-on attacks from Romney - a possible sign, he suggested, of Obama's acute awareness of the politics of race. "It’s possible he doesn't want to appear to be the angry-black man type," Barthwell said.
And the magistrate said it's likely that Romney -- who he described back in May as "not an athlete," "not a student leader" and "not a scholar" -- was simply better prepared for the debate. "Mitt Romney is a smart guy," he said. "He must have prepared for this debate and it was obvious."
I never thought so. I don't think the Down Low club would accept Romney as a member.
Maybe Algore was right it was the "Rocky Mountain High"!
Atlantis, Paradise Island Bahamas, perhaps?
A two bit magistrate “judge” thinks that Barry is “da bomb”. LOL! Figures. That’s some real news right there.
There....fixed it!
Me thinks the judge is remembering the Bamster through billowing clouds of smoke that didn’t come from no cigar...
“...”That was not the Barack Obama I’ve seen through the years. I’m thinking the man might have had the flu or something.”
OK. This was predicted earlier this morning. The libs have to have an excuse for why BHO2 did so poorly in the first debate.
How truly pathetic.
The flu...the altitude...the harsh bullying...Oh my gosh...poor Obama!
Yeah, sure, right, whatever you say.
"That was not the real Barack Obama in my opinion."
The delusion runs deep with these people.
O Brother! This is pure BS if I ever heard it. Let’s call it what it was to all who watched, epic fail.
What do you want to bet that they allow APPLAUSE in the next debate? I think lack of applause for the One REALLY FLUSTERED HIM.
Romney needs to whip out a big old yardstick at the next debate and say
“I checked the sea level, Baraq, it wasn’t changing in the first place”
“”There’s been a lot of emails going back and forth between people in my class. The vast majority of them are very supportive of Barack and not Mitt Romney,” he said. “It’s surprising to me because Cranbrook was a very conservative type of place.”
Well,,,, all of us at University School considered the Cranbrook guys as complete Pussi-—erhhh— wimps!
“Barthwell, the only BLACK graduate of Mitt Romney’s 1965 class at Cranbrook Schools..”
How predictable...and I doubt he speaks for all of Romney’s classmates. Just another black koolaid drinker.
The flu? Well, if Obama IS sick, I'm guessing it's a different virus...like HIV.
Still, the excuses are getting pretty pathetic.
For a guy with the flu or something he looked just fine today...
Amazing how healthy he looks when giving bullshit speeches to adoring zombies.
This is BS
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.