Kyungho Dean's video: 1st Debate 2012 -Obama vs Romney- Full Time

First US presidential debate: Obama and Romney -- as it happened • Romney wins the 'style contest' in combative performance • Liberal commentators furious at Obama's laid-back approach • Obama on the defensive from the start Post-debate first thoughts The reaction on MSNBC is something to behold right now, where the cast is hyperventilating over Obama's performance as awfully terrible. I have to say that the questions played to Romney's strengths, since almost all of the debate focused on the economy in one way or another, whether it was the deficit or taxes or jobs or even healthcare, which was talked about mainly in terms of costs and benefits. No mention of all sorts of other domestic issues, and zero on issues such as immigration or women's issues, which would have been better turf for Obama. Obama had the task of trying to defend his record and attack Romney's vague plans and he got Romney on the defensive early on over how Romney will pay for the very vague tax plans that he is offering. But it didn't last. It's possible Obama did better by giving Romney enough rope. But Romney showed more energy while Obama's calmness lapsed into passivity. Being calm and composed generally comes across better on television, though, so we'll have to wait and see what the voters think, of course. But Obama's performance wasn't nearly as bad as some of the early reaction would have it. Did we learn anything new from either candidate? Not really, although Romney made greater play of his time as governor of Massachusetts, something that plays better on a national stage than in the Republican primaries. Obama did sound as though he hasn't been in a real punch-up debate for a while. He could have done a better job, as Romney did, of bending the topic at hand to his questions. He could have raised issues like immigration and equal pay, but he didn't, nor did he go for Romney's jugular on his 47% gaffe. They will be miserable in the Obama camp, I imagine, not because Obama did that badly, but because they had a chance to have finished the election right here tonight with a strong performance. They didn't get that, Romney's got a shot in the arm and there's a long way to go.