After Wednesday night's Presidential debate, the first of the three before the elections on November 6, the media and masses alike are expressing surprise that the once hailed orator performed so poorly on one of the most important nights for his presidential campaign.
Soon after the debate, Obama's strategist took to spin-room to address the press. Obama's chief strategist David Plouffe was asked "would you agree that he (President Obama) was too low key?" as reported by Slate Magazine. To this Plouffe answered "No! I would not agree with that at all! He did what he had to do. He had a clear message to the American people," as was reported by the website.
David Weigel of Slate said, "For the first time in 12 years, Democrats have to take a debate that they lost on optics and convince voters that they won on facts. For months, they've had great fun with the holes in Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan's economic plans. It's hard to worry about those holes in a debate. The candidate can throw out numbers and the word plan, which voters associate with the actual having of plans. The attacker has to command enough facts, simultaneously, to prove that rival wrong, live. And he has to look nice doing it."
The criticism for Obama's performance was bipartisan, even democrats expressed disappointment regarding his performance. The New York Times called said he delivered "a flat, uninspired and defensive performance."
The debate was crucial for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who had been experiencing a lot of derision due to his "47 percent" comments and various other mishaps over the past few months.
Surprisingly, Romney delivered an articulate performance which received high praise from the media and undecided voters. The New York Times describes his performance as "energetic, aggressive and presidential during his first-ever general election debate."
According to a poll conducted by Government Executive, among the 523 undecided voters surveyed 46 percent said Romney did a better job, while only 22 percent said the same for Obama. 32 percent of those surveyed said it was a tie.
In a poll by CBS of 430 undecided voters, 67 percent say Romney was a clear winner last night, while only 25 percent said Obama won the debate. The CBS poll also indicated that 50 percent of those surveyed said the debates changed their opinion of Romney, boosting is likability to 63 percent, which was a 30 percent jump to the number prior to the debate.
A poll by CNN showed a closer call between the two opponents, but never the less, Romney had was declared a winner by those surveyed. The CNN poll suggested that 48 percent said Romney was a stronger leader, while 37 percent said the same for Obama.
Romney's strategists agree that it was a clear win for Romney. One of his strategist told the Slate, "He (President Obama) didn't have a bad debate...he had a bad four years."
View the complete List of schedules and time of the remaing Presidential and Vice Presidential debates here.
