Barack Obama’s performance in the Wednesday debate personified a popular idea from the organizational psychology and business worlds: The Peter Principle.
Made popular in the 1960’s, the Peter Principle posits that employees are promoted to their level of incompetence. In effect, an employee will eventually be placed outside the realm of his or her abilities.
Between the President’s defensive demeanor and Mitt Romney’s outfoxing, the debate proved that Obama has been promoted too many levels past community organizer.
Romney’s ability to combine pithy commentary with bulleted lists made his platform sleek and understandable. Here are the high points that prove Mitt is ready for promotion:
Consistent Framing
Perhaps it is written in some official liberal playbook that whenever a policy debate becomes too stringent, retreat to education as the moral high ground.
During the debate, Gov. Romney noted Obama’s gargantuan spending habits, yet the President continually reiterated his commitment to “investing in education and training.” Investing in education is a laudable goal, but unfortunately the President does not have a proven track record of accomplishing this.
Employing a timeless axiom, Gov. Romney pointed out, “the place you put your money puts a pretty clear indication of where your heart is.” He went on to disclose that President Obama funneled $90 billion into failing green energy companies that could have been used to hire 2 million teachers.
Romney’s observation severely hampers the ability of President Obama to reframe policy debates as a time to grandstand about education.
Anecdotal Advantage
The campaign President failed to give examples of real conversations, with real Americans, regarding real concerns. Gov. Romney interspersed his responses with anecdotes about specific conversations he had along the campaign trail.
Essentially, Romney silenced critics who claim he is too wealthy and out of touch. President Obama’s failure to make personal references was akin to the infamous watch-checking of George H. Bush in the ’92 debates.
Concise Evaluating
Blame it on his extensive business acumen, but Gov. Romney knows how to evaluate the deficit problem. He outlined three options for deficit reduction, including raising taxes, cutting spending and growing the economy.
What is Romney’s prescription for deficit woes? He underscored cutting spending and growing the economy. However, the Governor set himself apart by promising to trim gratuitous government programs.
“I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for,” said Romney. Framing China as the benefactor from wasteful American programs showed Romney is capable of multivariate hardball.
Three debates remain on the lineup, but tonight proved Mitt Romney is poised to take an executive promotion.
