My first impression (as a passionate conservative, mind you): I wanted Obama's teeth knocked out...and I think it could have been possible to cordially do so without being painted as an evil Republican warmonger. But alas, that was not to be. Instead, I shook my head in frustration for at least the first 45 minutes (or until the Iran discussion).
Don't get me wrong, I understand Mitt's strategy: show your effective level-headedness to undecided voters while sitting next to Mr. Superiority Complex...and in many respects, that worked to illustrate Romney's capacity to be presidential, as opposed to Obama's bratty condescension. But for Obama to be allowed to waltz through his Middle East debacles one-by-painful-one is slightly infuriating.
I think Quin Hillyer probably summed up my sentiments the best...
For 75 minutes tonight, I was tearing my hair out over missed oppotunities for Romney. But he did succeed in making it so boring that few people will base their votes on Obama's better performance during that long, long stretch. By "better," I don't mean "slam dunk." I just mean slightly better body language and tone of voice, and a narrow edge in terms of electoral effect.
In the last 15 minutes, Romney hit his stride. And while Obama's closing argument was warmed over, same-old same-old pablum, while he looked a bit shaky, Romney's closing statement was superb. If anybody was still awake by then, Romney left a much better closing impression.
Final effect: More people, by a narrow margin, will say Obama "won." But he didn't get a game-changer. A couple of days of poll doldrums for Romney will follow -- not big losses, but just a few little ticks down -- and then comes a nice little recognition by the public that Obama is a disaster. Tonight's debate did nothing to make Romney look unpresidential or unlikeable. Therefore, Romney is still more than viable. This will be a dog fight until the end. Nerve-wracking. But if Romney turns the closing statement into a commercial, it should help him make a nice final push.
So, all in all, nothing harmed, nothing gained.
On the other hand, Krauthammer was more optimistic, and sensibly so...and I'm overwhelmingly with him on the baseball bat!
"Romney went large. Obama went very, very small – shockingly small."
I also absolutely agree with Krauthammer's assessment that "the high point of that debate for Romney is when he devastatingly leveled the charge of Obama going around the world on an apology tour," followed up by a few back and forth's, with Romney slamming Obama:
"Mr President, America has not dictated to other nations; we have freed other nations from dictators."
Right on...that's what I really wanted to see/hear consistently throughout.
So what it all boils down to is essentially what the Great One succinctly stated...
Obama was pretty nasty and condescending. He also spun like hell. Romney was cautious and factual. Obama's hope to paint him as trigger happy failed. I don't think this debate changes anything. Incidentally, Bob Schieffer did an excellent job.
Well, that and the ties: Romney's red with purple stripes vs. Obama's solid blue.
ADDENDUM: A few other memorable lines that may have tilted this towards Romney with undecided's...
“I congratulate the president on the killing of Osama bin Laden… but we can’t kill our way out of this mess.”
"Attacking me is not an agenda. Attacking me is not talking about how we’re going to deal with the challenges that exist in the Middle East unless we take advantage of the opportunity there, and stem the tide of this violence.”
