Last night's first Presidential debate was scored as a victory for shape-shifter Willard "I'll Say Anything" Romney by the talking heads and initial samplings of voters. Perhaps this was because the sketchy Willard that showed up to debate bore little resemblance to the sketchy Willard on the campaign trail or in the Rethug primaries. There were no details offered and he repeatedly lied about his general positions on taxes and the budget. He apparently believes that the public won't be tuning in the next day or two for the fact-checking phase. He's probably right, since most of the after-debate coverage awarded Willard points on the superficials of the debate (who was more aggressive, body language, etc.) rather than whether he was, you know, LYING.
That's not to dismiss the President's somewhat casual effort, especially in the first half (of course, the President has a full-time job that doesn't consist of debate preparation, unlike Willard). No mention by the President of the "47%" issue, nothing on the Bain record, etc. However, if you tuned in to the debate in the last 30 minutes or so, you would have assumed that the President won: sketchy Willard looked pale and uncomfortable when a confident Obama attacked his positions on health care, and the role of government. He needs to turn the tables on Willard in the next two debates, and go after the extreme positions that Willard's had, but is trying to hide from the public.
