I wasn't really enthused about watching this debate -- too much at stake, media waiting to pounce, etc., etc. But boy, I'm glad I did. If it had been a fight, they would have called it half way through.
I cannot remember a more lopsided debate. Not only did Romney win on points -- even Obama's friends in the MSM are conceding his victory, some quite harshly criticizing the President. Ed Schultz has been denouncing him on MSNBC(!), and on CNN, James Carville admitted that Romney looked like he was enjoying himself while Obama seemed dismissive and unhappy to be there -- I think "peevish" is how I've described this attitude of the President's. Even Andrew Sullivan can't deny it. Ron Fournier described the President as looking "bitter." Poor, poor Chris "We have our knives out" Matthews -- that ole' "tingle" feels a little more like gout tonight.
The win was so overwhelming that there's really no way for the President's supporters to spin it. The supposedly unlikable guy, Romney, connected real people to his policies. Obama hectored and lectured -- and came across as not-all-that-likable a guy, what with snapping at Jim Lehre ("before you interrupted me"), and all.
Perhaps Obama's only good moment of the night was when he "zinged" Romney for his supposedly "secret" plans . . . and that's pretty ironic, given that (1) we had to pass ObamaCare to find out what was in it; and (2) he didn't even know what would be in the stimulus, since he outsourced it to Nancy Pelosi.
Tonight, Mitt Romney had to do one thing above all: He had to show the American people that the narrative the MSM has peddled about him -- that he's a rich, out-of-touch, uncaring bumbler -- was totally inaccurate. He did it. When he came out of the gate strong with his five point plan, it was a great moment. And it all went off well from there.
The governor can sleep well tonight. And so can we all. Finally, there's some real hope for real change.
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