Frank Bruni’s column offered debate advice to President Obama this morning: “Never Waver, Never Wobble.”  The gist of his Monday morning quarterbacking was that audacity beats truth every time.  But truth is not audacity, to riff a little on the President’s memoir.

With a bit of irony Bruni ruefully reflects, ” We worry about our flaws, sweat our mistakes, allow the truth to be our tether, and let conscience trip us up. We tiptoe. We equivocate.”  These cynical reflections seem only to regret that Obama’s lies were smaller than Romney’s lies.

But truth still matters when someone tries to sell you a bill of goods. Governor Romney still has to make the sale, regardless of how he presents himself: moderate millionaire, deficit hawk, guardian of the safety net, or advocate for the 53%.  Claiming to preserve Medicare, he still has to reckon with the “voucher plan” advanced by the Republican Platform.  Claiming to hold college loans sacred, he still has to reckon with his “borrow from your parents” advice on the Primary campaign stump. Claiming lower taxes for all, he still has to clarify what he means by a “fair share” paid by those earning more than $250,000.

Anyone who has bought and traded a car knows how to deal with double-talking salespeople.  If the deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We probe for the weaknesses in the claim that we are stealing the car off the lot, that we are actually buying below wholesale price, that we are getting all the upgrades for free.  We understand that we have to be our own advocates.

The Republican Party has always viewed politics as selling a product.  Most Democrats have cherished the illusion that they are selling a narrative. Our story is better than your product.  Everyone likes a good story.

But we also like the deal. We like to think we are are shrewd and skeptical consumers. So Democrats need to probe the deal, the hidden costs, the losers and winners, the bottom line of the sales agreement.  They need to remind the voters that this is a four-year lease with no buyer’s remorse.  They need to be a voter’s advocate trumpeting, “Show me the the CarFax!”

Until the debate on October 3, the Democratic campaign had taken on the half-truths of the opposition fairly consistently. But Wednesday night a new salesman came out of the showroom, wearing a new suit and an audacious smile.  It is a little unsettling when the dealership shifts strategies at the last minute, and probably the new Romney threw the President off.

But the strategy is the same: sell the public on the deal at whatever cost to the truth. Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware! If we remember we are negotiating for our lives no less than when we buy the car we can barely afford, we can keep the salesman at arm’s length.  Remember we can walk away and leave the attractive, but prohibitively expensive car in the lot. Remember that facts are audacious and they prevent us from being swindled.

And at the next debate, let the President be our consumer’s advocate, pointing out the flaws in this deal, showing how the salesman takes away with one hand what he “gives” with the other, how the fabulous trade-in is eaten up by the costs of the loan, and how asking the right questions can prevent us from getting stuck with a deal we can’t afford.

Truth is what gets us our best deal in the car showroom and at the polls. If we remember we are dealing with salespeople and their only goal is sell at the highest acceptable price, we will make good choices. It is not so much cynicism to say this as it is caveat emptor!