All you really need to know about the presidential debate Wednesday night is neatly summed-up in this epic tantrum by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.
In short, if Mr. Obama watched more MSNBC, he’d have won last night.
If that’s not enough, Andrew Sullivan, who live-blogged the event, finally had to admit that Mr. Obama got creamed:
Look: you know how much I love the guy, and you know how much of a high information viewer I am, and I can see the logic of some of Obama’s meandering, weak, professorial arguments. But this was a disaster for the president for the key people he needs to reach, and his effete, wonkish lectures may have jolted a lot of independents into giving Romney a second look.
Obama looked tired, even bored; he kept looking down; he had no crisp statements of passion or argument; he wasn’t there. He was entirely defensive, which may have been the strategy. But it was the wrong strategy. At the wrong moment.
The person with authority on that stage was Romney – offered it by one of the lamest moderators ever, and seized with relish. This was Romney the salesman. And my gut tells me he sold a few voters on a change tonight. It’s beyond depressing. But it’s true.
There are two more debates left. I have experienced many times the feeling that Obama just isn’t in it, that he’s on the ropes and not fighting back, and then he pulls it out. He got a little better over time tonight. But he pulled every punch. Maybe the next two will undo some of the damage. But I have to say I think it was extensive.
Delicious.
Meanwhile, in the ivory tower at UVA, Larry Sabato & Co. also say it was Romney’s night. But they also explore the most important question: will it matter?
In reality, we won’t know who really “won” the debate until we see how the debate affects the race, and we won’t know that until we have complete poll data for several post-debate days. History cautions us not to overstate the importance of any debate; if this one really does move the numbers in a significant way for Romney, it will be more exception than rule in the relatively short history of televised American presidential debates.
But even a single event can have immediate consequences:
One thing is for sure: If Democrats were becoming overconfident, thinking that the election was in the bag, this debate should get them refocused. And it should also calm all those anonymous Republicans quoted in news stories complaining about the Romney campaign. Of course, it’s the poll numbers that matter. We’ll see where they are next week, and we will adjust our perceptions of this contest accordingly.
I suggest that the only debate in the current series that will be genuinely informative, and entertaining, will be the vice presidential between Paul Ryan and Joe Biden.
Though if the remaining presidential debates were to include Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson, they, too, might become must-watch TV.
