I’m on the record as a critic of Mitt Romney‘s campaign, and until last night, it was, in fact, a disaster. Less than two weeks ago, I said the 2012 presidential race was over.
I was wrong.
It doesn’t require a lot of in-depth analysis to see exactly why Romney was the hands-down winner in last night’s debate. It wasn’t a necessarily stellar performance from Romney, but it was good. I give him a “B.”
Romney’s win was more about President Obama being totally off his game by way of the environment.
Two simple reasons.
1. The moment Jim Lehrer announced the debate crowd would be silent, well, it was a game changer. Obama’s a great speech maker. One of the best. No one feeds off a crowd like Barack Obama. For the POTUS, the required silence was deafening.
2. For the first time in four years, Obama stood on stage with another man as an equal. Obama’s always played the role of the smartest guy in the room. In his mind, he has no equals. Last night was mono e mono. It’s been a long time since Obama was put in a defensive position. Romney blew by him like Michael Jordan.
On the grading scale:
Romney – “B”
Obama “D”
Things just got interesting, and a LOT more money just got poured into a negative TV campaign.
-30-
Tony Carbon
The President seem lost without his teleprompter.
stevenwwatkins
Yep. The Romenator kicked his butt. I’ve never been more surprised.
Rhonda Crowdis Hardisty
I couldn’t agree more. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome after being very concerned about a possible re-election. My 19 y/o daughter did not plan to vote at all until midway through the debate when she decided another four years would be unbearable, even for a carefree student/ Nanny.
frontrangescribbles
Strong performance by Romney, can he continue it through the next debates? That debate was just the first quarter, team Romney needs to keep the pressure up for the next three quarters.
Rich Brown
Yes, Romney was much more aggressive and Obama reverted to his default professorial mode. But Romney was so busy talking, talking, talking there really wasn’t much time left over for Obama (or the moderator, I suppose) to get in much of a “Liar, liar, pants on fire” interjection. Romney clearly won this battle, yet I doubt if he “converted” any Democrats to his column. This contest (war?) will be won in the swing states, where it’ll be a pretty steep uphill climb for Mr. Etch-a-Sketch to persuade some Independents before the hard-right-wing GOP starts to have second thoughts about voting for a Massachusetts moderate. Which one is the real Mitt, after all?
Rieley
Rich, your assessment is spot-on. Thank you.