It was billed as the Thrilla in Manila, but this debate was all about the pretender in Denver.
Frankly, no fair-minded pundit can deny that Romney ran circles not only around Obama, but around the facts. Still, a win’s a win. Romney won.
But I see no point in joining the peanut gallery of those offering postmortems – except to say that it wasn’t so much that Romney amazed as it was that Obama seemed dazed … and confused. Not least because Romney came across like a smooth-talking thief trying to convince the judge (voters) that the real thief was the keystone cop (Obama) who caught him red-handed.
Instead, I’ll suffice to make three observations:
- The consensus is that no incumbent president has been so beaten up in a debate since John Kerry had his way with George W. Bush in 2004. But that was no “game changer” and clearly did nothing to help Kerry go from pretender to president;
- There are three rounds to these debates, and I guarantee that, by the end of the second, Obama’s poor performance will be forgiven and, more significantly, Romney’s stellar performance will be forgotten; and
- The only person who seemed more dazed and confused than Obama was moderator Jim Lehrer. To continue the boxing analogy, he reminded me of the typical punch-drunk champion who just did not know when to quit. Lehrer’s journalistic legacy, not Obama’s presidency, was the biggest loser last night.
PSA: Let’s not forget that this election is for commander in chief, not debater in chief.