I’ll say this. Over the last 25 years most of these debates have been ones between people who seem wildly mismatched as debaters. I say as debaters because George W. Bush won the presidency twice but he could barely string a sentence together sometimes. This cycle is very different.
9:04 PM: Having Schiefer moderating this debate has always been a bad sign for Obama.
9:05 PM: “We can’t kill our way out of this mess.” No doubt Mitt’s advisors wanted him to mention bin Laden first. Good idea.
9:06 PM: Was shrewd of Mitt to hit bin Laden first but sounded like a bit of a laundry list.
9:08 PM: Interesting — and I don’t mean that snarkily — that Mitt is positioning himself as the guy who’s not just about killing terrorists.
9:09 PM: “I know you haven’t been a position to execute on foreign policy.” “Not wrong and reckless leadership.” Obama not necessarily connecting with zingers but definitely taking it to Romney.
9:17 PM: On Syria, I’m not sure why Obama doesn’t just say, “Hey, this isn’t worth going to war over.”
9:19 PM: Romney’s policy is to continue Obama’s policies apparently. So now we’re to the Etch-a-Sketch.
9:21 PM: “Steady thoughtful leadership.”
9:21 PM: Good question from Schiefer. What would you actually do differently, Governor? The answer seems to be, nothing.
9:24 PM: My general take on this debate so far is that Obama lacks some of the sharpness of the second debate. And I think he could have connected more on a few points. But Romney seems sort of all over the place. Lots of complaints and criticisms and words like unravelling but I’m not sure clearly connecting with a powerful argument.
9:26 PM: Again, Romney can’t come up with anything he’d actually have done differently.
9:27 PM: Mubarak “had done things that were unimaginable.”
9:27 PM: I guess we’re in the phase of the debate where both candidates are doing everything they can to drag the debate back to the economy and domestic policy.
9:28 PM: Curious what others think but again, Mitt’s run there, just a laundry list. Just don’t feel like he went anywhere with it.
9:29 PM: TPM Reader JB writes in: “I feel channels turning to football and baseball.”
9:32 PM: Shorter Romney: Plan on the basis of everything being scarier than you can imagine.
9:33 PM: Ummmm, Schiefer? Foreign policy?
9:34PM: Flashback video: Mitt: We can’t kill ourselves out of this.
9:35 PM: Flashback video: Obama: The 1980s called. They want their foreign policy back.
9:37 PM: Bipartisanship! Romney and Obama form tacit agreement to make the debate about domestic policy. Classic Schiefer smackdown.
9:38 PM: Is Mitt sweating a lot?
9:39 PM: Romney’s looking flustered now.
9:41 PM: My sense is that Obama’s tone and command is rising now and Romney’s getting more scattered. Sort of like Obama’s feeling more confident and Romney less.
9:43 PM: TPM Reader AP has a different take so far. He writes: “I hear Obama attacking Romney. I hear Romney laying out a vision, however disjointed. Disjointed won’t matter – most voters aren’t as informed as you. I don’t see this as good for the President.” That’s not my take. But wanted to share with you.
9:44 PM: God, I’ve been waiting for someone to call out the ridiculousness of Romney’s comparison fo the fleet size of the 1917 and 2012 US Navies.
9:47 PM: Mitt looks like he’s lost his footing.
9:48 PM: Like the auto bailout, Mitt now claims Obama’s policies are his own.
9:49 PM: Romney is making a rousing case for Obama’s policy.
9:52 PM: One guy up there looks comfortable and happy. The other looks like he’s in pain.
9:54 PM: Much like in Debate #1 with President Obama, Mitt has the look of someone who desperately doesn’t want to be up on that stage.
10:00 PM: It’s like Romney needs a firmware upgrade. Just talking points spewing forth. A litany. Words. A mess.
10:01 PM: “You’ve been all over the map.”
10:02 PM: This is getting brutal.
10:02 PM: “It was worth moving heaven and earth to get him.”
10:03 PM: Obama managed to bring the bin Laden segment at the end of a long narrative. Real impact.
10:03 PM: Eeesh, now even Schiefer is slapping Mitt around.
10:05 PM: I’m not sure Obama could have dropped the OBL bomb at more of a crescendo moment.
10:05 PM: Mitt’s so punch drunk at the moment he apparently thinks he’s signed on as President Obama’s State Department spokesman. Who’s he arguing against with Pakistan?
10:07 PM: Shorter Mitt: Please get me the f*ck off this stage!?!!?
10:09 PM: Flashback video: Obama, Gee Mitt, we had more horses and bayonets then too.
10:11 PM: Man, Mitt is just killing Obama with this rambling and uncontroversial discussion of Pakistan.
10:16 PM: Flashback: Obama to Romney: You said we shouldn’t “move heaven and earth” to get bin Laden … Romney attacks Obama on purported “Apology Tour”.
10:19 PM: “Not just strong but very strong.”
10:20 PM: Mitt’s getting off the matt a bit here.
10:21 PM: Yes, you’re familiar with jobs going to China because you invested in the companies that were sending them over there.
10:24 PM: Governor, the people of Detroit don’t forget.
10:28 PM: Mitt: I love Teachers!!!!
10:29 PM: The auto bailout is Romney’s greatest Etch-a-Sketch. Yes, he wanted a managed bankruptcy. But he refused the government assistance that was essential to keep the companies out of liquidation. Because at the time it wasn’t popular. He can’t undo what he did and said. He’s stuck.
10:32 PM: Romney says he’s optimistic and pumped but he’s sweating like a pig.
10:33 PM: Key quotes and more at TPMLiveWire.
10:34 PM: I dissed Bob Schiefer a bit at the outset. I was wrong. I think he did really well. Invisible in a sense but in a subtle guiding way.
I’ll have some more thoughts in a bit. Here’s my quick reaction. The first half hour was a draw, though President Obama scored by default when Romney either didn’t or couldn’t attack on Libya.
After that though Romney began to falter as Obama became more direct, organized and declarative. Romney seemed increasingly lost. Obama seemed comfortable, happy. The visuals told the story. Romney was sweating a lot and looked like he was in pain. Into the second half of the debate Romney’s answers seemed more jumbled and unfocused. There was even that rambling and generally uncontroversial digression on Pakistan. Why? He seemed lost.
Translated into Romney visuals he had what President Obama had in the first debate: that look of someone who wanted to be anywhere but on that stage.
From the CBS instapoll of uncommitted voters:
Who won the #Debate? OBAMA: 53%; ROMNEY: 23%, TIE: 24% (Margin of Error: 4%; Sample Size: 521)
Shorter Mitt Romney: We’d do exactly what you’re doing. But I’d be President!