CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For a grocery clerk at my local market, it was not about political strategies or poll numbers. As I judged the fish selection, he leaned across the counter and asked, “Why didn’t he fight?” I didn’t have to ask what he meant. He knows I cover politics, and I knew he was talking about President Obama’s lackluster performance in his first debate with GOP challenger Mitt Romney.
Everywhere I went this weekend, I heard that same question in various forms. As Romney capitalized on his campaign’s new life and Obama recalibrated for the next candidate face-off, the horse race was not the focus of voters for whom that question is still top of mind. They want someone who understands their lives to speak up for them. They thought the president was that person, and now they have their doubts.
