Post Debate Thoughts..

Well, it seems my prediction was fairly accurate after all.

In my piece from earlier tonight, I suggested the talk before the debate from the Romney campaign downplaying the debate's importance was more a ploy to make any hits Romney did make more potent than him just not being a good debater. 

The reports all over the net is a bit mixed. The initial reaction by many new agencies (including Fox News) was that while the debate was lacking in major confrontations, Romney did make a good number of jabs.




However, shortly after the debate ended a poll was released which sampled viewers of the debate and asked them who they thought won the debate. Specifically the poll asked uncommitted viewers who won the debate and by a margin of 2-to-1 the uncommitted viewers thought Romney won the debate. (1) Since that poll was released there has been something of a firestorm on Twitter about how much of a loss this is to President Obama.

In fact the American Spectator magazine posted several tweets from "prominent" lefties about how disappointed they were in the President's performance.(2)

Personally, my impression of the debate is that IF I had to choose a "winner", it would be Mitt Romney. His "win" wasn't a very convincing one but it was a win in my book and here's why:

1. Body Language- It is clear to anyone with eyes that Romney had the more positive body language. Romney consistently looked at the President while he was talking and smiled quite frequently during his exchanges with the President. President Obama on the other hand rarely looked at his opponent while Romney was speaking and instead preferred to look at the moderator and the camera itself. 
2. Attitude/Posture- The President was very defensive during the debate, maybe more so then necessary. In comparison Romney came off as fairly aggressive  (a bit of a shock for many of us I'm sure) and didn't over do it with any over partisan rhetoric. 

Overall, Romney achieved his goal of making his case without getting overly aggressive or partisan which put very simply made him look good. Compared to the President, Romney looked better and did a decent job overall at the debate, certainly better than many thought he would be and for the Romney campaign, that maybe just enough of a victory to change the direction of this election..Maybe. 

Disclaimer

Any opinions and/or views expressed in the above piece are purely those of the author and not of any political or non-political organization. Any re-posting of this work MUST include this disclaimer.

References

1.) http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57525698/poll-uncommitted-voters-say-romney-wins-debate/
2.) http://spectator.org/blog/2012/10/03/its-unanimous-obama-lost?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter