You know how Obama hung back in the debate and let Romney rant, lie and hang himself?

[CincyDem]

15. This feels like the New Coke/Old Coke thing.

When Coke replaced it's age old formula, it was the closest thing to rioting in the streets we've ever seen over something so trivial as a soft drink. After some weeks of revolt, Coke introduced "Coke Classic" and marketed both the new formula alongside the old formula.

That worked out quite well for them in hindsight and there was a lot of speculation that they planned it that way.

Some senior Coke guys was quoted "We're not that smart and we're not that dumb".

I think O is a super chess player and I think the first debate has ultimately played to his advantage. At the same time, a stellar performance in the first debate (like in #2 and #3) would have crushed Romney in his tracks. Had O killed in the first debate it wouldn't have surprised me to see Romney find some rationale to cancel at least one of the following two debates.

So, yeah - in hindsight, lots of good wholesome republican lying material for future use but I think Axelrod and the whole O gang would say, in response to the hypothesis that they took a beating on purpose in that first debate..."we're not that smart and we're not that dumb".

I think the same goes for letting repubs run wild trampling on voting rights just to make the case stronger in the future. We'll see a lot changes in the second term, especially if we see two new justices that have their heads screwed on straight. And we'll make progress.