Posted on 10/04/2012 6:00:25 PM PDT by Hotlanta Mike
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."
mara.gay@thedaily.com
Some people are gullible. At no time has Obama proven to be a good debater. He can’t speak off the cuff. Anyone who thinks differently doesn’t think at all.
Uh, ya wanna tell the country a little more about that, on yer honor, yer Honor?
Doesn't sound all that neutral to me. Go figure.
That man looks a little shady to me and got to laugh at the photos he holds for each candidate.
So, is this gonna be the excuse for Zero’s poor showing? He had the flu?
isn’t that gay slang for...
No, I think they'll reserve that excuse for the debate he doesn't bother showing up for!
The guy looks like they interviewed him at the horse track.
LOL!
Obviously the guy is not the sharpest tool in the shed. Even lukewarm Romney supporters like me knew that Obama is basically an ignoramus concerning economics and Romney is a numbers wonk. But I’ll bet Obama knew the price of all the best recreational drugs back in the day. Impressed this fool.
It’s in the eyes, this man lies...
Sure, Barthwell, Obama had the flu. /sarc
So Obama couldn't respond to Romney because he didn't want to appear to be the angry black man type.
It appears that it is Barthwell's "acute awareness of the politics of race" that is driving his preference.
Just read the Yahoo in-”depth” comments from viewers evaluating the debate. One wanted to know why all 7 presidential candidates in his home state were not included. Others wondered why Romney was allowed to lie with impunity. Others thought Mitt was way too slick. And the beat goes on . . . and on . . . and on.
All kinds of excuses are flying...obama on medication, obama tired, obama sick....lack of air....what a loser.
REALLY? Wow, this guy is amazing! Either that, or he's... you know... capitalizing on the latest media meme.
Gee, I wonder which?
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