Obama Is the Obvious Favorite

Republican Paul Ryan claimed the victory during the United States vice presidential televised debate. He “outplayed” the current number two man in the Washington administration, Joe Biden. Earlier in the presidential debates, Mitt Romney also defeated Democrat Barack Obama.

However, many experts are sure Obama remains the favorite in the presidential race. President of the Institute of National Strategy Mikhail Remizov agrees.

“Obama and his team’s task throughout the debates is not so much to achieve a dazzling victory as it is to avoid excessively huge and obvious failures. And those aren’t happening. Obama is the obvious favorite of the race, in which he is winning with almost 100 percent certainty,” Remizov said.

The expert noted that Romney and his team should try to overcome this. According to Remizov, eloquence won’t be sufficient. As a general rule, flowery speech doesn’t have a serious impact on the campaign trail, as the only messages reaching the population will be those connected with the candidate’s image that make him appear attractive, voluminous and interesting.

“A portion of voters perceives Romney as a worse version of Obama. It’s even possible that his victory in the Republican primaries was, to a degree, an early sign that Republicans aren’t seriously fighting for a victory in this election. The situation is similar to that of Bush’s opponent Kerry,” Remizov said.

He emphasized that as long as the development of Romney’s strength hasn’t fundamentally changed, Romney’s running turns out to work in the current president’s favor.

Remizov believes the situation will be more favorable for Russia with Obama in office. However, he says the winner isn’t of primary importance because regardless of its president, the U.S. will have different priorities, including in its foreign policy.

“If it puts stronger pressure on the post-Soviet regions, it will give Russia reason to become more resistant. Such pressure is bad, but good in terms of stimulating a retaliatory tone,” the expert explained.

If that happens, he is convinced that a Romney victory certainly won’t prove catastrophic in foreign policy, but might instead be a good stimulus for a reset — not for bilateral relations with the U.S., but for Russia’s own conception of foreign policy.