Well, on the plus side for Obama, the consensus at the office today seems to be “I watched about half of it, then got bored and went to bed”.
I thought Obama’s second half was far worse than his first half, so that’s… something?
What I’m most curious about is how this debate effects each potential voter group: GOP base; soft decided swing voter; undecided; Democratic base.
Will trotting out moderate Romney decrease the base more than it appeals to the middle? Will it mollify the Democratic base? Who is actually watching and will be impacted by what they saw? Who is not watching but will be impacted by how it is spun?
We can all agree, the worst performance was Lehrer. Horrible.
The administration has embraced that name since spring, I believe.
This reminds me of the 1984 Mondale- Reagan debates, in this sense: the incumbent was TERRIBLE, absolutely pathetic… but the challenger was too dull, weak and lacking in energy/charisma to take full advantage.
Obama stank out the joint. Romney SHOULD have mopped the floor with him… but he didn’t.
Which means, bad as this effort was, I don’t think it’s likely to hurt Obama MUCH.
It’s too late-- he and his team have embraced that term for weeks, if not months, now.
Didn’t watch the debate, and seems like I didn’t miss much. We have 2 more these things plus the Biden/Ryan showdown. Meanwhile, early voting has already started.
Is it Nov 7th yet?
Indeed months.
This first debate was polite. It was civilized. It was respectful. It was policy-focused and wonky.
sigh
Mitt’s religious sensibilities notwithstanding, the candidates should be required to do at least one debate where they’re both thoroughly drunk, stoned, and tripping on acid.
Just so we can get a look at their inner selves.
Here’s something I didn’t expect – Romney’s comment about Big Bird has gone viral:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/20121003presidential-debate-pbs-big-bird-romney.html
http://news.ph.msn.com/entertainment/romney-threat-to-sack-big-bird-draws-outrage-3
I guess it’s an easy thing to grasp and parody. I was, myself, more shocked by Romney basically telling Lehrer that, if elected, he’d cut off HIS job. How can you come out with a coment like that to the moderator and not sound like an arrogant jerk?
For reasons like that, and Romney’s constant going over time* and stuffing in The Last Word, I didn’t think he came off well, but like a spoiled brat. I was surprised to find pundits and the SDMB caklling Romney the clear winner this morning.
Obama went over, too, but nowhere near as bad or as much as Romney.
This. I’m a Romney supporter, but Obama should have his hand smacked for letting this one go.
If I’m a small business owner, and you lower my marginal tax rate but eliminate my deductions so that I end up paying the same tax, how in the hell does that help me hire more people? Why, Gov. Romney, does it matter how the numbers are placed on the tax return if the total at the bottom is the same?
As a side note, I’m disappointed that no commentator or anyone else has mentioned that stupid little “box” that Obama kept gesturing with his hands. He used it the first time to illustrate how he would reduce spending on some program, but kept using it at irrelevant times throughout the rest of the debate. A classic crutch for a nervous speaker. I thought many commentators would point that out, but no one has..
The fact that everyone is shocked that Obama didn’t nail it shows how often he DOES nail it and how one isn’t constantly waiting for the next gaffe the way we have for so many presidents. We have come to expect that he will put in a solid performance and isn’t that still a breath of fresh air four years later?
Jobs? Yeah. But vote Romney into the White House and hold onto your hats, Ladies and Gents, cause it’s wartime with Iran if we do. Don’t say we didn’t warn ya…
Don’t underestimate Biden. Have you ever heard the man when he has free reign to talk foreign policy? He wasn’t head of Foreign Relations on a fluke. Let’s see Ryan go toe to toe with Biden on the Middle East…And Biden has a passion for the blue collar worker and the policies that Dems have implemented for the average guy that will be tough to quiet in a debate. It is Biden’s raison d’etre and that will come through in the debate loud and clear. Ryan will find that a formidable wall to try to scale…
Obama had 4+ minutes of talking time over Romney according to the little clocks on CNN. I guess he just talked slower.
What’s baffling from my perspective is the sheer number of openings Romney gave the President that he simply ignored. Romney’s agonizingly awkward PBS remark alone would have allowed even a below average debater to pivot and say, “Really? Cutting PBS is your answer to the debt problem? PBS is not a financial problem. Once again, it just shows that as soon as the Republicans take power, all they do is obsess over their pet cultural issues.” The pressure point that influences most moderates and swing voters away from the Republican party is precisely the distrust that as soon as they’re elected, conservatives will start beating the culture war drum again. The Big Bird remark presented an easy opportunity for Obama to remind voters of that.
Worse, in talking about their views of government, all Obama had to do was say, “I believe vigorous government action can help save jobs when the country is faced with an unusual crisis. That’s why while Mitt Romney was writing editorials arguing America’s auto industry should be left to die, I stuck my neck out and saved it, keeping thousands of people employed in places like Ohio and Michigan.” Simple answer. Stark, easy contrast. I would expect Obama or anyone standing in his place to be able to give such an answer by rote, and without stuttering.
I don’t know about that. I’m not shocked he didn’t nail it; I’m shocked he got beaten by a man with all the charisma of a toaster. Obama wasn’t just “not as good as usual”, he was bad.
[QUOTE=CalMeacham]
Obama went over, too, but nowhere near as bad or as much as Romney.
[/QUOTE]
It’s funny how expectations can lead to factual errors like the above.
Nice to see a big win for Romney. I especially enjoyed the little zingers he threw in from time to time.
I expect great things from the vice-Presidential debate - the Gaffe-meister against Ryan. [del]If[/del]When Biden says something stupid, Ryan is going to eat his lunch.
Moderator: “Let’s talk about budgets.”
Ryan: “What’s there to talk about? These clowns can’t even pass a budget!”
Biden: “That’s because the President is focusing on a three letter word - JOBS!”
It will be interesting to see the debate on foreign policy, though. I suspect Obama will want to talk more about how he had bin Laden shot, and not as much about why he kept claiming the attacks on 9/11 of this year were spontaneous.
Still, excellent performance by Romney. I have hopes for the election.
Regards,
Shodan
I was very disappointed in the debate, both as a debate coach and as a Democrat. When your opponent lobs so many easy targets over the net, you are morally obligated to stuff a few of them down your opponent’s throat. Yet Obama did nothing of the sort. He let Romney get away with things one of my freshmen could have countered in her sleep.
On the up side, Obama increased his “empathy” rating and there were no “sound bite” moments that the Republicans could grab ahold of. So I think it was a tactical victory for the Republicans but a strategic win for the Democrats. Romney had to win big for this debate to matter, and he didn’t.
That’s comforting. For a while, I was thinking you had given up and were impervious to having your hopes crushed into dust.
I think the President is too fearful of being seen as “angry.” Sometimes, a little exasperation is called for, and admired.
BTW, how are those “the-media-are-biased-against-tighty-righties” claims coming along this morning? Now the media is fair and unbiased, huh?
Whether Obama addressed it or not, tens of millions of Americans are scratching their heads over Romney’s tax proposal made of angel farts.
That’s going to be a huge talking point across all the pundits. And Romney’s supposed to be the Economy guy?
That’s like a plumber telling me he doesn’t have to break up my foundation to fix a leaking sewer main, because he has magical jackhammers. Won’t cost me or anyone dime…
Maybe Obama gave Romney the rope to hang himself with? Every time Obama spoke, Romney could be seen in the split screen putting on his faux sad-face & big eyes worthy of the cat from Shrek.
If anything spoke of how the world can expect treatment should Romney be elected, that did.
This is probably just my disappointment in Obama’s performance talking, but I had a thought. Could Obama have purposefully avoided mentioning things like 47%, Bain, Caymens, etc because he knew that those topics would get talked about more if he said nothing than if he’d brought them up? All I’m hearing today in all of these post-mortems this morning are “Why didn’t Obama bring this or that up?” It may cause undecideds to notice, instead of having it lost in the storm of the debate.
Or maybe I’m reaching.
I only saw a bit of the debate, my wife tells me she thinks Romney won it, at least in part, with much better body language. I’m wondering if just perhaps Obama’s team decided to be less confrontive in Debate #1 and are going to rachet it up in the debates closer to the election. Clearly the Pres was playing it very safe last night. I sure would like to see him stuff Romney’s big lie about the $716 billion, which is identical to Ryan’s proposal, down his throat.