Incumbency has long been regarded as a benefit in the neverending pursuit of re-election, but there’s no doubt it also has drawbacks.

Just look at President Barack Obama’s performance in Wednesday night’s debate.

Almost in spite of any evaluation of his performance as president, a great number of people just seem to like the guy. He’s had nearly four years of governing from the top spot after having served a rather nondescript four years as a U.S. senator. It’s safe to say his time as president has been the pinnacle of his life both personally and professionally.

Incumbency, however, has saddled Obama with baggage he never had to carry when he ran for the presidency in 2008. He had virtually no record to criticize when the nation’s desire to elevate a black man to the highest oft ce, voters’ weariness of George W. Bush’s post-9/11 warfooting and Obama’s shiny new message of hope and change combined to lead to his historic inauguration.

In Wednesday’s debate, it also became abundantly clear that Obama has surrounded himself with people who do not challenge his ideas, his programs and his worldview like former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney did, and for the first few minutes of debate,he appeared somewhat offended that anyone would speak to him in the forceful way Romney did.

Did you ever see “The American President,” starring Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepherd and Richard Dreyfuss as his conservative challenger Bob Rumson? Dreyfuss’ character liked to say in every speech “I’m Bob Rumson and I’m running for president.”

When President Shepherd, in the movie’s climactic moment, has had enough of Rumson’s tactics, he unexpectedly appears in the White House press room and gives a passionate speech about all sort of liberal policies (”I’m going to get the guns” was the one line no real president would dare say). Responding to the setup of the entire movie, he declares “My name is Andrew Shepherd and I AM the president.”

That precisely captures how President Obama appeared in that debate. Having been swept into oft ce with such exhilaration andexpectation, it seems he believed the path to another four years in oft ce wouldn’t take much work.

I think, for the first 15-20 minutes of the debate, he kept saying to himself “I AM Barack Obama and I AM the president.”

Incumbency can create that mindset, but when it comes to election season, the awe of the oft ce shouldn’t translate into awe of the man who holds it. Presidents are, after all, only temporary occupants of the best public housing the nation has to off er.

Holding the oft ce you want to be reelected to also tends to put an incumbent on the defensive. Take Mayor Lioneld Jordan in Fayetteville. He’s being challenged by former twoterm mayor Dan Coody, who Jordan vanquished in 2008.

Jordan, almost universally praised as a likable guy who even his opponent acknowledges as a man who wants to do what’s best for his community, nonetheless clearly gets irked when he has to sit in a forum listening to Coody question his vision, or lack thereof, for Fayetteville.

Everyone’s skin gets a little thinner when they’re being criticized in public.

The man who passionately tells people he “loves this city” would no doubt rather not have to sit there being challenged. Like Obama, it’s got him outside his comfort zone.

That’s the only reason I can figure out Jordan tried the “gotcha” approach to politics at a recent forum.

He waved a piece a paper in front of the audience and declared that Coody had not even bothered to vote in the countywide election on the public transit tax this year. The only problem was, Coody had voted, and Jordan’s campaign committee made the cardinal error of helping their man look petty and foolish because the ammunition they got for him was a dud.

That’s not typical Jordan, who’s much more at ease showing up at almost every community event, shaking hands, smiling and visiting with people than trying to attack a political opponent. But holding onto incumbency makes people do funny things.

That said, getting elected the first time to an oftce is still probably the hardest uphill battle most candidates face.

Incumbency is better to have than to wish for.

Except in the case of some recently legislative positions, voters often don’t want to “throw the bums out” unless “the bums” give them a pretty good reason to do it.

Nov. 6 is the day we’ll find out how voters feel about that this year.

GREG HARTON IS OPINION PAGE EDITOR OF NWA MEDIA.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 10/08/2012