Tel-Chai Nation

The presidential candidates debate has taken place, and not only did much of the viewership consider Mitt Romney's performance splendid, even some of the MSM are willing to admit he won the 1st debate. For example, the AP Wire:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican Mitt Romney was fiery and having fun. President Barack Obama came off as the professor without much pop.

ABC's First Coast News:

DENVER -- From the first question, Mitt Romney was on the attack.

So was Barack Obama.

But during their 90-minute encounter, the first of three presidential debates, the Democratic president sometimes seemed annoyed and defensive while his Republican challenger was energetic, focused and relentlessly on message. Romney ripped Obama's record on the economy with a tone calculated to convey more sorrow than anger.

New York Daily News:

Mitt Romney was the man. With vigor, clarity and passion, he far outclassed Obama in presenting a forward agenda while delivering a potent critique of Obama’s record. He forced the President to play defense — and weak Obama was at it.

Across the 90 minutes, Romney achieved all that could have been expected, and then some.

And Yahoo News admits Obama did terribly by sharp contrast:

Yes, it was as bad as it seemed.

No, it wasn’t Jim Lehrer’s fault for letting Romney expound; Obama got more time (four minutes more) than Romney. Besides, it’s not the moderator’s job to call a debater out on questionable assertions. It’s the opponent’s job.

Yes, it wasn’t the best atmospherics for Obama to look down, purse his lips, appear distracted, while Romney was attentive, engaged, relaxed. But this was much more than atmospherics. This was about one candidate who came with a frame for the evening, and who was prepared to engage on every question; and another who, perhaps because of his documented faith in his own abilities, felt he could wing it with snatches of familiar verbiage.

Most surprising, the whole evening felt as if Obama thought he was back in 2008, needing only to demonstrate a sense of cool, calm collectedness to persuade the voters that they could do what they desperately wanted to do: change course.
There was barely a moment when Obama offered any sense that he was prepared to challenge Romney on his weakest point: who does the Republican presidential nominee speak for? How much (or little) does he understand where the country is, how it got here?

Even on the most basic political points, Obama seemed clueless. When you argue as a Democrat that you and your Republican opponent share wide areas of agreement on Social Security—especially when recipients make up a chunk of Romney’s “47 percent” of indolent spongers—you have thrown in a fistful of high cards.

So bravo to Romney for winning this first debate, and let's hope he can manage the next one just as brilliantly.

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