He isn't weak like that -but Turkey and Syria were exchanging fire last night.

Last night on the CurrentTV coverage Al Gore mentioned that the President had arrived in Denver at 2pm that day. Romney on the other hand had been there for days, getting acclimated to the altitude and oxygen levels.

Could explain why Obama seemed listless.

I don't know how that issue could be overcome - except not to have the debates in an area that the altitude would temporarily affect a person.

The equivalent altitude of the cabin pressure in jets is higher than Denver: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_pressurization#Cabin_altitude

from New Orleans and was physically ill for a day until I got acclimated to it.

I used to work at a ski resort -- the base was 9,000 ft and the top was over 11,000. It is fatiguing to deal with that oxygen deficit until your blood gets more red cells in it.

But to the larger point I don't think Obama was dulled in that debate. Just calm which to me is Obama's natural state.

The nitrogen/oxygen ratio is still the same at altitude; less pressure means less oxygen. As I said, airplanes have less oxygen than Denver. They don't worry about the pilots flying them; non-physical work is fine. Maybe your work was physical. 10,000 ft is about the level where some people start to feel effects even if they're not moving around. I don't think the president, who spends a lot of his life on planes, is going to be affected at a lower altitude.

The news is all about the debate. My husband grabbed a copy of Repubblica from the Italian bakery for me today. I guess their print edition for Italian ex pats in the US/Canada has details on the Turkey/Syria situation that our press isn't giving us.

I do wish he had been more firm in how he spoke. That was the only thing my husband said was that Romney's delivery seemed better. Although much of what Romney said was throwing more shit at the wall to see what sticks, and a flip-flop of everything he's said up until now.

Edited: to clarify and fix sentence structure. Haven't had my coffee yet.

totally himself-- calm, collected, professional-- remember? he did the "fire eyes" thing toward Rmoney
a couple of times.. which was whoa.. scary, but mostly he was his typical self.

keep in mind Obama has to avoid being labeled the "angry black man" which scares poor whiteys in our
nation-- quite a bit.

and he can't be long-winded/wonky... since that didn't work so well for Gore

And to the issues the people wanted the prez to initiate like the 47% or his record at Bain, all that would have done is to give #Mittnocchio an opportunity to earnestly look in the camera and declare his love for all Americans and brag about his tenure at Bain regardless of the facts.

Another very smart thing that #Mittnocchio did was to present brand new proposals that his opponents did not have a chance to vet. That is what knocked the Prez off his game and made him seem unprepared. He WAS unprepared because #Mittnochio sprang all of this new stuff out.

I watched the debate at my first ever watch party (a real US Senator showed me where to park) and thoroughly enjoyed the debate.

The President did an excellent job of presenting the facts and skewering that windbag without getting hostile. I lost count of how many times Romney brought up already debunked points (such as the panel deciding medical treatment) and continued to attack his strawmen.

I missed a bit because people in the room were laughing too hard. I don't think any of us thought there was anything wrong with the President last night. He seemed a little tired at one point but I thought he was clear, concise and spot on.

Romney clearly won on foot-in-mouth statements. I'm still waiting for those "zingers".

nt

.. and putting on the appearance of caring. For people who haven't
come to terms with their oppressive status and racism, this will play well.

For those who care about issues and real people, all Romney did was lie
and use rehearsed talking points.

Obama came across well one his Social Security debacle was over. That
was not good, what he said about SS. But after that, he did fine: told
the truth, explained his plans, and attacked Romney on having no specific
plans.

very jumpy and crazed looking. Frankly he was scary. Obama did appear off his game though.

I thought Obama started out weaker but finished strong, while Romney started out on the offense and degenerated into incoherent word salad.

Romney currently has just one job: campaign. Obama has to campaign, run the country, and worry about this little tiff Syria and Turkey just started...not to mention Libya, Egypt, Afghanistan, Iran, et al.