On the Second Presidential Debate

Well, the night is over.  Over a little later than we expected.  Ah well.

So, how do I score the debate?

Well, first off, President Obama was punchier, which I appreciated because he was less prone to meandering and made himself more compelling to listen to.  That being said, I have to mark him down for repeatedly deceiving to the American people in the debate.  His attempts to claim credit for increases in oil production were shameless and despicable.  Additionally, his claims that he has helped coal are preposterous as nearly every coal miner in the nation will tell you.  His continual trumpeting of green energy is likewise a farce, as the billions of dollars lost from funding companies that are not economically viable show us.

Additionally, the president's assertions on Libya are clearly false.  The president never directly referenced a terrorist attack on 9/12.  Indeed, he seemed to refer to Cairo more than Benghazi that day.  And no matter how you cut it, his administration lied for the following week and then tried to lie about its lies the week after.  Obama himself still blamed the video two weeks after the fact.

Which leads me to Governor Romney.  He blew his argument on Libya by getting bogged down in specifics.  However, I believe that is the only place he truly failed tonight.  Otherwise, he was concise and on point.  And when he could point out Obama's record, he did so to devastating effect.  Liberals may wave off those arguments, but Romney brought home the fact that the country has not improved over the past four years and has instead been mired in the valley of the recession.

As for the moderator...Candy Crowley was not Martha Raddatz, but she was much closer to her than Jim Lehrer.  She glaringly interrupted Romney a few times, particularly when it saved the president.  Additionally, for someone who wanted so many questions to be asked, she took up a lot of time with her follow-ups.  Additionally, she contaminated the Libya question by siding with the president instead of letting the conversation go and letting the viewer judge.  Indeed, she has conceded that the governor was, essentially, correct, after the debate.  She allowed Obama nearly three minutes longer to speak and selected questions that seemed to all have a liberal preconception.  That forces me to mark her down as a failed moderator because she failed the audience in that format.

In the end, how do I score the debate?  Tie to possible edge for Obama on style.  The president's performance tonight, while certainly better, was still not great.  He achieved perceived dominance mostly by being aggressive without being substantive.  On substance, Romney blew the president away.  Romney kept his cool and held his own, except for the unsteadiness during and following the Libya question, though he dodged a couple of other questions noticeably as well.  The aggressiveness back and forth between the two was probably more detrimental to both than not.

Three more weeks and one more debate.  Foreign policy, you're up to bat!