Rethinking the first debate.

[mzmolly]

Today, I've been pondering the President's nodding and taking notes at the first Presidential debate. At the time, I thought perhaps he was allowing Romney to put as much on the table as possible, gathering information about his latest positions so he could come back hard in the second debate. Some call it rope a dope. Others poke fun, suggesting that Obama supporters liken him to a Jedi Master.

Upon further consideration, I believe we simply have a President who listens and gathers information before acting on it. He researches and carefully plans his course. ... Today, when I think about his first performance, I hear the words “Please continue, Governor,” ringing in my ears.



Anyone else putting the first debate into greater context, today?

[still_one]

1. Whatever the reason it hurt us. One must always never let a lie stand

[mzmolly]

2. I think it's too soon

to tell. We don't know the end result of the overall battle, just yet.

Further, having a few draws in a debate, isn't as important as revealing who Romney is to voters.

[bushisanidiot]

12. What hurt us was the democrats RESPONSE. The President did just fine.

people were too hung up on the stupid side by side view of the candidates on the same screen.
The President was unfairly scrutinized for small things like not looking at romney enough.
It was cosmetic. The hair-on-fire reaction is what gave the narrative that the president "lost",
traction for the republicans to easily claim victory.

romney was just as rude, just as wrong on his facts, just as condescending to the POTUS and to the moderator
in the 1st debate as he was in the second. romney got by with being an ass because being an ass
was seen as a strength instead of being unpresidential. THAT should have been the narrative from
the democrats. Romney is not presidential. The polls reflect the accepted narrative. And the
democrats and left leaning pundits dropped the ball and created the narrative. Not the president.

[still_one]

15. Not when he said there was very little difference between romney's social security plan and his.

For gosh sakes even the president knew he did not do well, and looked disinterested

Even if it was not as bad as the hyperbole, it was still bad

The polls reflect that, and it wasn't from Democrats, but from the other non-democratic groups

Watch, you will see the polls move much more in our favor now that the President has shown that Romney has no clothes

[Gregorian]

3. I believe he let Romney lie two times. This cemented him on his position, in public.

First in one debate, and second in last night's thrashing.

The "please continue" statement was almost a verification that the cement had set.

[mzmolly]

4. Yep. And, the statement is THE memorable moment in the debate series

thus far.

What it communicates to voters is that Romney is either reckless with his words, and/or lying. There's not much more voters should need to hear.

[1StrongBlackMan]

7. Plus ...

It is a clear expression of authority, as in giving someone permission to do something.

[mzmolly]

17. Excellent

point. And, he refused to play the yes or no game with Romney, which was perfect.

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. Nope ...

You are where I was.

From everything thing I've seen, read and heard about President Obama, I have described exactly how this President operates. From recounts of his college days, his Harvard Law Editorship and the way he deals with his advisors, all have said pretty much the same thing.

And that's a good thing; something the gop sorely lacks ... it lessens the chances of making decisions too hastily and on insufficient information.

[mzmolly]

10. .

[PoliticalBiker]

6. Appearences aside

I thought Obama did better during the first debate than the pudits and purist liberals thought he did.
As a debate PERFORMANCE, he indeed was wanting. But, as a purveyor of fact, truth and pragmatism, he beat the socks off Mittens.
Mittens again changed his positions, lied and misled the audience... badly

Obama on the other hand, spoke from experience, used verifiable facts and equated what his experience said to the majority of people in this country.

Obama is so far above Mittens in foresight, honesty, relatability and tact that it would be funny if it wasn't so detrimental to our country.

[mzmolly]

11. Well

said!

[txdemsftw]

8. I agree..

And I have a sort of different view on this...(or maybe not?)

Seems to me like people want to be entertained more than educated in this country. People wanna tune in to see a cat-fight and see who wins the 'war of words' so to speak and apparently forget all about the most important thing- WHAT do these 2 candidates stand for? Who will help our families the most during the next 4 years and beyond? All that gets put on the back burner because most of the damn Repubs want to see 90 minutes of trash talk, not the TRUTH.

Sure, Obama wasn't all 'fired up' last debate and throwing in jabs at every turn, but I do think he was gathering up as much info as he could to get to the bottom of Romney's crap for the next two. Did it hurt us? Yeah, I think so...but that wouldn't be so if we didn't have a bunch of dumb ass Repubs ignoring the real issues and basing the election on cat fights and super jabs.

Eh...hope that made sense.

[mzmolly]

13. I agree with your every word.

Made perfect sense.

Welcome.

[txdemsftw]

16. Thank you mzmolly!

[JamesL2012]

9. the third

Maybe in the third, obama will out right win, but they need a better moderator. One that does not interrupt the debate.

[mzmolly]

14. Welcome to DU.

I think Obama clearly won the debate, but I hope he'll hammer Romney on his record in Mass at the coming debate. For some reason, "independents" who are supportive of Romney are of the mythical illusion, that he'll repair the deficit and create jobs. If we can demonstrate that his state was 47th in job creation and had the highest debt per capita when he left office, that should set voters straight.