Romney scores big in first presidential debate

The consensus from last night's presidential debate is that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney scored a resounding victory over President Barack Obama. Romney exceeded expectations in a measured yet forceful performance. The one major advantage the Republican challenger had was that the US economy is in troubling shape, with the president seeming ineffectual in his handling of the high unemployment and  massive deficit that has characterized the whole of his term in office.

A high placed source and confidant of the President told me a few months ago that the economy would be the deciding factor in November, and if unemployment remained at 8%, where it currently is and has been for some time, then the president would likely not be reelected.. 

The New York Times had the following:

The immediate reaction to Wednesday night’s presidential debate was a torrent of criticism directed at President Obama, with Republicans, and as well as many Democrats, accusing Mr. Obama of delivering a flat, uninspired and defensive performance. 
Republicans seemed genuinely surprised that his opponent, Mitt Romney, was energetic, aggressive and presidential during his first-ever general election debate.

“In a thoroughly dominating performance, Romney bested Barack Obama in both tone and substance,” Stephen F. Hayes of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine wrote after the debate. “Obama often found himself at the end of a verbal cul-de-sac, seemingly unaware of how he’d ended up there.”

On Twitter, some of Mr. Obama’s Democratic allies expressed anger and disappointment that the president did not make better use of the “47 percent” speech by Mr. Romney and other missteps that the Democratic campaign has spent months honing into attack ads and stump speeches.

Andrew Sullivan, a blogger and strong supporter of Mr. Obama, echoed Peggy Noonan, a former Republican speechwriter, on Twitter, saying that “this is a rolling calamity for Obama.” Mr. Sullivan added: “He’s boring, abstract, and less human-seeming than Romney!”