President Obama desperately needed a victory in Tuesday night’s debate against Gov. Mitt Romney, and that’s exactly what he got.
The president was assertive and passionate as he championed his accomplishments and redefined Romney as a plutocrat. He was a completely different president than the one we saw two weeks ago when he allowed himself to be bulldozed by a slew of unchallenged mischaracterizations and exaggerations about his own record and about the record of his opponent. As msnbc’s Chris Matthews said on Tuesday’s post-debate Hardball, “You win when you have to really, really win… and tonight Obama played a really, really good game.”
But was the president’s performance enough of a comeback to secure him re-election gold?
Obama delivered some slam-dunk remarks on Tuesday and took a commanding lead on three issues in particular: women’s equality, the 47%, and Libya. The president also managed to knock down Romney’s economic plan, which he called “sketchy,” from a elaborate-sounding 5-point plan, to a simple one point: make sure that wealthy people at the top play by a different set of rules.
Obama was out in Iowa on Wednesday rehashing some of his winning attack lines from the debate.
“Everybody here’s heard of the new deal, you’ve heard of the fair deal, you’ve heard of the square deal,” said Obama at a Cedar Rapids rally. “Mitt Romney’s trying to sell you a sketchy deal… You don’t want to invest in that sketchy deal.”
While the president displayed equal agility and skill on the other issues covered, he was also helped a great deal by an unlikely assistant: Mitt Romney.
Romney had three damaging unforced errors during the debate, and as Republican strategist Steve Schmidt said Tuesday night, “Turnovers are what kill you in championship games.”
In response to a question about inequalities of women in the workplace, Romney gave the now infamous line that he collected “whole binders full of women,” while searching for female cabinet members. The choice of words raised the important question of why Romney did not know any qualified women after a long career in business. The “binders full of women” comment almost immediately had its own Tumblr, Facebook page, and Twitter hashtag.
Romney also massively missed on Libya when he wrongfully accused the president of waiting two weeks before calling the attack in Benghazi an act of terror. Obama in fact said, “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation,” from the Rose Garden the day after the attack, a statement moderator Candy Crowley confirmed on the spot in what was arguably the most embarrassing moment of the night for Romney.
But the most perplexing error came at the very end of the debate, when Romney inexplicably opened the door for Obama to attack him on his damaging 47% remarks, which were just beginning to fade in the wake of Romney’s first debate victory.
“I care about 100% of the American people,” said Romney in his closing statement. “I want 100% of the American people to have a bright and prosperous future.”
The veiled reference to his 47% comments gave just enough room for Obama to hit him hard in his closing statement, which was already established to be the last of the evening.
“When he said behind closed doors that 47% of the country considered themselves victims who refuse personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about: folks on Social Security who’ve worked all their lives; veterans who’ve sacrificed for this country; students who are out there trying to hopefully advance their own dreams, but also this country’s dreams; soldiers who are overseas fighting for us right now.”








