What would we be talking about if Obama had "won" the debate

[matt819]

I just read the op-eds in tomorrow's NY Times, which took President Obama to task for being such a milquetoast during the debate.

On the night of the debate, much of the commentary here was about how Obama failed miserably. Then on Thursday some of the commentary switched a bit to how Obama played the debates perfectly and allowed Romney to hang himself on his lies. Indeed, the first Obama ads revealing these lies was up and running early Thursday morning. Others started coming up with other possibilities. Al Gore suggested it was the altitude. And how the NYT op-eds return to the initial approach: WTF, Mr. Prez?

What is the case is that the past three days have seen report after report on Romney's lies.

It will be interesting to read Mr. Obama's book in 2018 about his 8 years as president. Maybe we'll find out about some super secret thing that was going on that had him preoccupied. Maybe we'll learn that his lackluster performance was planned and scripted.

Who knows?

But all of this has me wondering. If Obama had "won" the debate, what would the commentary and reporting have looked like, in contrast to the coverage we have seen?

[Kolesar]

1. I heard the debt negotiations will keep the bush tax cuts and cut SS and Medicare

There were trace amounts of posts about that before the debate.

[Hydra]

3. Those posts are still going on

Due to the President's gaffe about how he and Romney have a lot in common when it comes to SSI.

I about fell off my chair when I heard him say that (out loud).

[TroyD]

5. Yup

That's the sort of thing Obama has to stop doing.

First of all, it makes him sound like a Blue Dog Democrat (which according to a thread someone else started, is what he has sometimes said he is - controversial subject for another day)

Secondly, it lets Romney off the hook and blurs the issues and doesn't point out how much worse Romney's positions are.

Obama has to stop looking for 'common ground' with the Republicans and start pointing out the distinctions.

Point out why Romney is worse for women, gays, minorities, the poor, the middle class etc.

[Hydra]

2. Had Obama won the debate

I think we would all still be laughing about how much Mitt lied. As to the media? Hard to say what they would have said- I'm guessing something like "Romney still have 2 debates to go..." since they have nothing to report on if they admit that Obama has most of the votes sewn up atm.

[2pooped2pop]

4. I would have been remarking on how

he was at 80% on Intrade instead of the 65 he dropped down to.

[jonthebru]

6. President Obama did win the "debate."

[mazzarro]

8. Sorry to bust your bubbles, no - he did not!

I am not happy about his performance; so also is Bob Herbert -- see this article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-herbert/no-more-excuses_b_1941156.html?utm_hp_ref=media&ir=Media

[Indpndnt]

12. He sure as hell won the post-debate of the past few days.

And that's what matters, not the 90 minutes on stage with Willard.

[DJ13]

7. We would be talking about Romney having no further chance to catch Obama

Thats also the reason many are so disappointed in Obama's performance, it allowed Romney to maintain a slim hope of winning.

[geek tragedy]

9. We'd be talking about taking the House back.

Sadly, that appears off the table now.

[Indpndnt]

13. Oh, please.

A lot more people turn out in a closer race. More people = better chance of taking the House.

[Donkees]

10. How Queen Ann jumped on stage and screamed, "IT'S STILL OUR TURN, MITT KEEP TALKING!"...

as the credits rolled

[RichGirl]

11. We would be continuing with the hubris...

Which is not a good thing. Maybe we needed a smack down.