These are my quick and spontaneous thoughts on tonight’s first presidential debate:
- Governor Romney did very, very well in the first 30 minutes . . . had his facts, and looked relaxed and natural . . . he made a lot of sense on the tax issues.
- The president repeated the same old attack lines against Romney.
- On Entitlements: Obama cleverly waded into the downside of vouchers…a big negative with Seniors, once a stalwart voting bloc of the GOP…this Ryan voucher plan is death to the Republicans when it comes to Medicare . . .
- 50 minutes into the debate and Romney is doing well . . . he is knowledgeable and seems pleasant and easy-going enough to overcome some of the likeability issue . . .
- One thing: Romney sounds like he knows his stuff
- A question: there are a lot of numbers being thrown around . . . I wonder of viewers tune out when they hear all of this?
- On the healthcare issue: Romney made a great case against Obamacare…Obama seems defensive . . .
- Governor Romney is doing a damn good job through 73 minutes of the debate…the President isn’t doing badly, it’s just that his arguments and logic don’t seem attuned to reality . . .
- On education, Obama is top-down oriented . . . this federal plan to hire 100,000 more math and science teachers . . . crazy . . . why should the Feds be hiring teachers for local schools?
- As they give their closing statements, it is clear Romney has won this debate . . . his arguments make better sense . . . he seems more sure of himself . . . he has come off as a nice fellow . . . his program makes sense . . .
- The Left is gonna go nuts over this night . . . they’re gonna be ticked at Obama for being passive . . .
- My guess is that the president has gotten soft over the 4 years…no one got in his face to challenge him . . . whereas Romney was battle-tested from the dozens of GOP debates . . .
- Incumbent presidents usually have trouble with these first re-election debates . . . President Reagan lost his first re-election debate to Walter Mondale in 1984 . . .
- But make no mistake about it, Romney won this debate . . . whether it radically changes the state of the campaign is yet to be determined.
John LeBoutillier is a former U.S. congressman and a political commentator who has contributed to many major newspapers and magazines. Read more reports from John LeBoutillier — Click Here Now.
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