The First Presidential Debate

By ANDREW ROSENTHAL

Pool photo by Michael Reynolds Barack Obama shakes hands with Mitt Romney after the first presidential debate.

At the presidential debate tonight, Mitt Romney looked and sounded presidential. President Obama failed to step in and puncture that image.

I won’t offer a detailed fact-check of the debate. It would be too depressing and my newsroom colleagues have taken care of that, anyway. But Mr. Romney tossed out some whoppers, which Mr. Obama did not counter.

Mr. Romney, for instance, said that under Mr. Obama’s health care program, the government would “sweep in” and take over everyone’s medical care. That’s simply a lie, and Mr. Romney knows it, but Mr. Obama let it go unchallenged.

This debate was perhaps most notable for what Mr. Obama left unsaid—for his many lost opportunities.

When the president discussed his opponent’s tax plan, he sounded lost and detached. He should have put a direct and simple question to Mr. Romney: “Please name the deductions and exemptions you plan to eliminate in order to cut taxes without increasing the deficit. Just four or five would be nice.”

The president also never mentioned Mr. Romney’s 47 percent speech–which just a week ago seemed to change the dynamic of the race–or his tax returns, or his tenure at Bain Capital.

Nor did the president adequately represent the situation in D.C. He did not describe to voters how the Republican party has tried to stymie his ability to govern with a policy of systematic obstruction.

When Mr. Romney said how well Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill (the speaker of the house at that moment in prehistory) worked together, Mr. Obama could have said, “I don’t have Tip O’Neill. I have Mitch McConnell.”

Instead of attacking Mr. Romney, Mr. Obama praised his leadership in Massachusetts. He made it clear that Romneycare is Obamacare. He said there was no difference between them on Social Security, taking that issue off the table for no discernible reason.

I’m not so shocked. Mr. Obama has made his distaste for political jousting disappointingly clear over the last four years.

At least Mr. Romney also failed to fully take advantage of the situation with a rather obvous zinger. It would have gone something like this, “So, Mr. President, you admit you got your best ideas from me. I guess you think I’d do pretty well in your job?”