President Obama and Governor Romney fail to show up for first Presidential Debate

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

The two guys I really wanted to see show up for the debate tonight. Unfortunately, neither of them was able to make it.

One of the few things I liked about BHO's performance tonight was that he consistently took the high road, even when Gov. Romney left himself open for a hook. No zingers, but unfortunately no pyrotechnics.

A friend wrote tonight—and I'm crossing my fingers it's true—"My money is on Obama playing chess. He's sacrificing his pawn now, because it's Checkmate in two more moves."

I thought BHO was seriously off his game, but scored over and over on Mitt's lack of specificity. I thought Mitt was the most on his game he's been in a long time. He was peppy, smiling, and irritating.  All that debate prep obviously helped, but he relied far too much on "trust me."

Governor Romney on the other hand, rolled out his transformation to a centrist, almost Democratic position on the economy and taxes.  Now that the tea party wing of the GOP is only focused on getting BHO out of office, they don't seem to much care what he says.

Post-debate,  the team at MSNBC ranged from disappointed to livid. For my part, the one thing BHO most pointedly did not do was take a leaf from WJC's masterful speech at the Democratic convention:  folksy, passionate, fairly wonky, but real clear, and really forceful without being overbearing or lecturing. 

Next week we'll see crazy Joe mix it up with the slippery Paul Ryan. VP Biden is a great debater. BHO has two weeks to get his act together. I also believe that the decideds are softer than is commonly believed...at last a small percentage of them. And a small percentage in the right battleground state is all it takes to upset the applecart. I'm pretty sure BHO will come alive. But, hey, POTUS, there's no time like the present. People are voting. I vote in two weeks. 

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