campaign.

At the end of the day, the campaign comes down to money. If Obama had put Romney away and the news shows were talking about Obama whipping Romney then Romney's cash would have continued to dwindle. By giving Romney a win in the court of public opinion, he has new life to his campaign. I am sure he has seen a spike in fund raising after the debate.

Obama had the chance to put this away and then start helping in the down ticket ballots. His campaign made a major strategic blunder. I hope they fix it by the next debate.

personal anecdotes. People like the fact that he acted thoughtful and presidential instead of like an attack dog.
Having said that, I imagine after all the hoopla he will be more aggressive next time out.

It is very clear from the overall debate reaction, even among democrats, that Obama got his ass handed to him. It was an embarrassing performance for those of us who have been trumpeting him for years. I seriously hope that the campaign gets aggressive and doesn't let Romney walk all over Obama next time.

to the start of his presidency. The Republicans were on life support and he blew the breath of bipartisanship into them, reviving them and ultimately legitimizing their obstructionism. What folly.

And then smile and tell you how much they like you/them, in the process. Perfect description of a Vulture.

The good news and the bad news ... most Democrats aren't Vultures.

would have gone to those down ticket races. Obama took a very small hit in the polls, will recover quickly and is still in the lead. Obama knows what he's doing.

Don't worry, he's got this.

Erick Erickson said yesterday that Repub donors were now going to to be diverting money from the downticket races to Romney again. Obama's not short of funding. The downticketers often are.

instead of moved down ticket.

The memorable moment from the debate is Starving Sesame Street to Feed Wall Street.

The headlines were all about the lies.

The rest is already lost in today's jobs numbers, and the GOP is freaking out over that.

I don't think it was a deliberate strategy by the President. I just think he sounded exhausted, especially when compared to Romney's coked up, overbearing and rude performance.

I think it was very well played. As far as new life to Romney's campaign, that is probably just among his faithful. Those who are looking at the info and still making choices are going to see the the utterly false face of Romney. It's everywhere. If Obama had played into the Romney lies he would have looked like a grovelling fool. In the end, Obama will be the statesman and Romney the political prostitute.

As far as donations, maybe someone has some stats on that. Obama was ahead in fund raising last I heard.

Even when he is winning he sticks his big foot in his mouth. The Big Bird statement will follow him around forever! The candidate who wants to do away with PBS? What a stupid, stupid, mistake. I know our President had to be chuckling in his belly somewhere!

"Romney Hood wants to deregulate Wall Street and devastate Sesame Street"!


Who would vote for this crook? He just alleniated all of America's children.


(Kindergarten Teacher)

and she mentioned she couldn't believe he said that about PBS. We love Downton Abbey



http://theobamadiary.com/

and given the sheer audacity of the barrage of Vulture Polemics, including the further audacity and incredulity of proposing the "firing" the moderator and Big Bird on national television, he held his own.

It will ultimately go down as one of the most shameful moments in American politics, to date, IMHO.

thanks for this analysis from Rmuse, babylonsistah!

out of his mouth began with, TTE, "You're a liar"? It would have looked as though Rongny was trying to tell us some stuff and the President was trying to prevent him from telling us that stuff, because the President's EVERY response would have been "That's a lie". That alone would look quite suspicious to fence-sitters and leaners.

You don't try to refute a Gish Gallop. For every lie you successfully challenge fifty make it past you due to lack of time. You stick to your message and ignore the other guy. The downfall of attempting a Gish Gallop is that to anyone that wasn't already on your side you look like you have such severe ADHD that you can't make a coherent argument.

Obama did exactly the right thing.

he surely deserves it...

The pundits, the media, and even many here at DU, expected this to be some form of "entertainment." They were salivating at the thought that Obama was going to "kick Romney's ass" during the debate and were ultimately disappointed.

Obama didn't get his ass handed to him. He did exactly what he set out to do: let Romney hang himself as he always does.

And what does Romney do? He suddenly moves to the center and alienates his base. He threatens Big Bird.

Had Obama come out swinging, he would looked like a fool and a bully himself. Romney, being the underdog, would have gotten the sympathy vote. Instead, it's better not to engage with someone like Romney in the first debate and Romney succeeded in looking like a loon.

Anyone who thinks Obama somehow failed Wednesday night has not been paying attention to how he operates. The best way to win is to make your opponent feel over-confident and start stepping on his own feet.

Honestly, that's what I imagined Obama was doing when he kept smiling. Smiling is a win-win. It looks good out of context and it makes people curious about you. Obama was probably thinking that Romney's defensive, angry teeth gnashing was exactly where Obama wanted him: Looking like the loser-wanna-be.

I said in one post that Obama appeared presidential, and that's what the debates are for: So we, the uninformed, the ignorant, can do what we do best: Get a gut instant reaction that we don't recognize consciously.

Plus, Obama knew he had the time and the bucks to make great commercials about that defensiveness.

Debates are theatre; and, people who intend to vote made up their mind long ago.
The largtest number of 'undecided' are those who are undecided about voting.