If you watched the Romney-Obama debate with the sound off, Mitt Romney gave the visual cues of the kind of guy who is so bursting with confidence in himself and his “product” that he could sell you a junk car rendered permanently inoperable in an accident and make you believe that it is a brand new Cadillac with the fresh smell of leather seats.

Meanwhile, President Obama tried to appear above the fray, but ended up looking sedated and sour — and failing to find a unifying narrative.

It’s a great American strength that optimism is appealing, except that it is so often a style of optimism built upon a dry gulch. There are shyster optimists who are con artists with ebullience, and there are true believers. Romney is both.

I’ve never seen anything like it: a renunciation of his entire campaign platform.

Don’t count on any high school band suddenly appearing in a Romney administration. He’d cut the funding and give the money to billionaires.

Ken Rogers

Easley