Belated Debate Thread

The wife and I watched most of the debate before moaning and drifting off to sleep.
Romney clearly “won” the debate, but since, according to Romney, it’s not about winning or losing, I’m not sure what to say about the result.
Two character flaws: Romney’s creepy doll stare, and Obama’s hesitation and looking down, like some ashamed child.

The moderator, Jim Lehrer, was helpless between the two. At the outset of the debate, neither Obama nor Romney were on point or brief. They used up way too much time giving their stump speeches rather than talking on point. In other words, it really wasn’t a debate in the scholastic sense of the term. In a real debate you aren’t allowed to go over your time (correct me if I’m wrong) and you are scored for your responses to questions and rebuttals. This was just plainly two candidates fighting over airtime, and Obama looked tired.

Suggestions for the candidates:

Romney, I’m not sure why you think that smirk is going to work with the American public. You are staring at the President of the US with a stare that says, “I am openly being disrespectful to you.” Be a little more solemn next time. Good work on developing some talking points for people that haven’t paid attention to you–they won’t know the difference between Campaign Romney and Debate Romney.

Obama, What the hell is wrong with you? Before the debate I thought, “This is going to be no-contest. Obama is a lawyer and professor with years of debate experience.” You were like a kid that was sent to the corner for being bad. Stay on point with the moderator, keep to your time, and act like a friggin president. Watch your opponent as he is talking. Forget about all the debate preparation–you have had years of experience to put to use. Take some vitamin B 12 before the next debate.