Here are five reasons he fumbled:
1. His nice-guy image:
The Obama team believes the president's biggest asset is his
likability. They want him to preserve that at all costs. They're
convinced undecided voters don't want to see him engaged in verbal
combat -- so he rose above it. That meant he passed
on openings to
attack Romney.
He also missed openings
to defend his own record and didn't challenge what his campaign now
labels Romney "distortions." It let him stay the nice guy, but isn't
there a saying about the nice guy and where he finishes?
2. Misjudging the room:
They decided this wasn't about the debate. Instead, it was an
opportunity, like the speech at the Democratic National Convention, to
speak directly "to voters at home, not the people in the room." Viewers
saw that tactic a few times when the president looked directly into the
camera to deliver his message.But a debate is about
engaging with at least two people in the room -- the opponent (Romney)
and the moderator (Jim Lehrer). By reaching beyond them (and at one
point snapping at Lehrer), the president seemed disengaged and
disinterested -- and no doubt that matters to the people watching at
home.
3. Not enough prep:
The president held more strategy sessions about the debate than actual
mock debates. It's no doubt harder to find the time to prep when you're a
sitting president and not a candidate, but to get rehired, he needs to
find the time. Known for his gift with words, the president is,
according to sources, challenging to coach. He believes he's his own
best critic and that he knows what to say and how to say it.
4. Incumbency syndrome: Did you get the sense the president did not want to be on that stage, that other things were on his mind?He appeared impatient
with the experience, not unlike other incumbent presidents, including
George W. Bush 2004. It read almost as if the president is dealing with
too many other domestic and global issues to stand there and volley
about campaign promises when he has -- in the mind of the incumbent --
more pressing matters. He seemed to have a bad case of it Wednesday
night.
5. Doesn't take criticism well: It's
no secret Obama is a confident man. He wouldn't have a lot of patience
for advisers talking about how to score style points. But as Al Gore's
sighing debate performance in 2000 proved how a candidate looks when
he's not speaking can be as important as what he says.
Sources tell CNN that
during debate prep, only the president's inner circle stayed for the
critique of the president's performance after the mock debates. Even
then, it didn't seem to make enough headway to calm the president's
impatience with this process.
Maybe next time, they'll
show the president tape of his downward gaze and grimacing during
Romney's answers -- and let him provide his own self-criticism before he
shows up in Hempstead, New York, for the second debate at Hofstra
University.
Three things we know
about the president: He's fiercely competitive, hates losing and he is
disciplined. After last night's experience, he will no doubt adjust and
come in ready with a different performance for round two. But he has to
avoid the problem Al Gore faced in 2000. Gore was too passive in one
debate so he overcorrected and came off as too aggressive in another --
missing the mark both times.
Culled:CNN
Edited:LII
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