To the Editor:

So, here we had it. Live TV for all the world to see. In one corner was a man vilified by MSNBC, the editorial staff at The New York Times, the main stream media and, of course, the president of the United States. A man who was called a felon by Harry Reid. A man accused by the Obama campaign of causing cancer to the wife of a laid off steelworker while he was governor of Massachusetts. A man who gave away his inheritance, held a double major at Harvard (business statistics and law), was one of three hires of the Boston Consulting Group at age 28, hired away by Bain at age 30 and went on to earn his own fortune in the financial world. His firm, which he owned, raised $37 million in private funds and went on to build companies like Staples, Toys R Us, Dominoes Pizza and many others. A man who then left that world to salvage the Salt Lake City Summer Olympics, followed by a governship as a Republican in the most liberal state in the U.S. — Massachusetts. A man who passed a 200-page healthcare law against his wishes but did so as he governed a state that overwhelmingly wanted it. Yes, he governed!

In the other corner was a man whose biggest claim to fame at age 37 was to have written two, yes two, autobiographies. A man who since age 18 was immersed in the lecture halls and faculty lounges of Columbia, Harvard and University of Chicago. A man who studied and taught the teachings of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.” A man who took advantage of white liberal guilt and never faced a serious debate in his academic life. A man who surrounded himself with yes men and a few really competent Chicago pols. A man who created a story about himself, and believed it. A man who as president didn’t need to attend many security briefings — he knew more about that stuff than anyone.

Obama signed a 2,400-page health law that is costing way more than he said, was partly unconstitutional, will reduce choice and, by the way, will still leave 12 million people uninsured. He signed a 2,700-page finance reform bill that left out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from supervision. He’s tripled the money supply, ruined retiree savings accounts, blown $90 billion on green energy, refused to include the chamber of commerce in his Jobs Council and is in bed with the big banks. The labor participation rate is at an all-time low, the debt an all-time high, trillion dollar deficits the new normal and our embassies in flames all across the Arab world.

He’s run guns across the Mexican border which have killed thousands of Mexicans, authorized drone bombings in Pakistan which mistakenly have killed dozens of school kids. His last budget proposal failed 414-0 in the House and 99-0 in the Senate. He’s removed from his staff and prefers to read briefings late at night, alone, make notes and passing them back to staff. Ever the lecturer.

And lecture us he does indeed do. We don’t pay enough in taxes, don’t work together as a community, can't eat right and pay way too much attention to that damn Constitution, which those old rich white guys rigged to give too much power to the states and not to his central planners.

With all that going for him, why bother to prepare for a debate? As the greatest orator ever seen, he will just clean that rich white guy’s clock. His problem was he was facing a man who, whether you like him or not, had to have something on the debate ball to graduate Harvard with a 3.97 GPA and a rare double major, at age 28 be hired by the most prestigious consulting group in the country, at 37 to form Bain Capital with his own money and retire from there 15 years later to go into public service and win as a Republican in Massachusetts. Of course he has to be quick on his feet, have personality and persuasive skills. Only a fool would think otherwise.

They went into the debating ring. In one corner stood the challenger, pretty much written off as a low-level snob. In the other corner was the president, unquestioned by his fans as the world heavyweight champion of the debating world. The result, best put by a commentator was “Down Goes Frazier!” Couldn’t have said it better.

The next day the best his handlers could say was that his opponent lied. Joe Frazier had way too much class to say Foreman just landed a few lucky punches. We have one month left. Exit 2012 can’t come soon enough.

Pat Denzer

Waynesville