Jen Psaki, traveling press secretary for the Obama campaign, said that the “constraints of governing” have meant that President Obama will have less time for debate preparation than the campaign had originally planned, according to a White House pool report.
“The president will have some time to prepare and he’s been doing some studying, but it is certainly less than we have anticipated because of events in the Middle East, because of his busy travel schedule — because of just the constraints of governing. So it is less than we originally planned,” Psaki said.
Psaki not only lowered expectations for Obama, which the campaign has been doing for weeks, but also tried to build up expectations for Mitt Romney’s debate performance.
“Mitt Romney, on the other hand, has been preparing earlier and with more focus athan any presidential candidate in modern history. Not John F. Kennedy. Not President Bill Clinton. Not President George Bush. Not Ronald Reagan has prepared as much as he has. So there’s no question that he will have a lead on how prepared he is.”
Psaki added that the Romney campaign wants the first debate to be a “turning point” and that the press wants “to write a comeback kid story.”
