| Wednesday, October 24, 2012 6:00 AM

There was one thing we were left in no doubt about at the end of the Great American Debate, between the two super slick contenders for what is often billed as the world's most difficult job.

America is great, it's the envy of the world.

Reverting to his Mormon preacher pose, Mitt Romney, missing only his lapel badge identifying himself, looked down the barrel and told the viewers the obvious, that he'd like to be the next President of the United States "to make sure that we all together remain America as the hope of the earth". It's something that few of us have probably ever have hoped for, and in fact given the current state of the States, it certainly wouldn't be at the top of the wish list.

But then the incumbent wasn't much better with Barack Obama telling viewers he'll always listen to their voices, he'll fight for their families every single day to make sure that America continues to be the greatest nation on earth. Surely that's what he's been doing for the past four years and there's not a hell of a lot to show for it now.

But he did score a couple against the bleating Romney accusing him of having a foreign policy of the '80s, a social policy of the '50s and an economic policy of the '20s.

These two men are so well-schooled, the right words have been drummed into their brains for weeks on end which means a slip up, a moment's inattention is a disaster of monumental proportions but neither had one, which made your common garden variety of snake oil salesman look like an amateur.

You couldn't help thinking though as they squared off against each other, only a metre apart, that they showed incredible self control not to lash out. They were after all, in ever so polite terms, accusing each other of telling porkies and for a man of the cloth like Romney, that was tantamount to sacrilege.

It's bland politics and it perhaps explains why in a fortnight's time, if the last Presidential poll was anything to go by, then just 57 percent of the voting population will bother to go to the ballot booth. In other words they get what a hundred million of them couldn't be bothered voting for!

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