Obama debate prep details? Mum's the word
LAS VEGAS Fearful that any tidbit of information about President Obama's debate prep might disclose his strategy to Mitt Romney's campaign, his staffers are treating it like state secrets.
"It just doesn't make a lot of sense for us to get into that," said White House press secretary Jay Carney of the rhetorical calisthenics, verbal jumping jacks and oratorical squat thrusts that make up the president's training exercises for tomorrow night's 90-minute face-off with Romney in Denver.
Mr. Obama didn't want to discuss his debate prep either. During a break in his rehearsal sessions, he left Debate Camp to visit the Hoover Dam. He said he had never been there before and found it to be a "spectacular" sight, but he cut off his chat with reporters when they started asking about his debate prep.
And Jay Carney was taking his lead from the president. At a press briefing at which he discussed such other matters as sanctions on Iran, the ongoing violence in Iraq, the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and new criticism from Republican congressional Leaders about Mr. Obama's handling of budget matters, Carney and his campaign counterpart Jen Psaki, were carefully guarded about the debate preparations.
Struggling for a scintilla of insight into the debate prep, a reporter asked Carney if he'd liken the process to cramming for a test.
"I wouldn't characterize it at all," he said. Neither would he say how Mr. Obama plans to address Romney in the debate: as Governor, Mr. Romney or Mitt.
From other sources it's known the preparation includes mock debates in which Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, is playing the role of Romney.
"I'd love to give you some details," said campaign press secretary Jen Psaki, at the same press briefing with Carney, but she said it's just not done. "Traditionally, it's never been the case to disclose what happens at these debate preps," she said.
Actually, Mr. Obama's 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe, now a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, wrote about the debate prep four years ago in his 2009 book "The Audacity to Win." In a passage quoted by the Associated Press, Plouffe said the practice sessions were held on a replica of the debate stage "practically right down to the carpeting."
Unlike Romney, who took part in 19 debates with his Republican rivals during the primaries, Mr. Obama, as an unopposed incumbent, was spared that kind of preparation. But he's had plenty of experiences of a similar kind.
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Obama debate prep details? Mum's the word