Mitt Romney, left, and Barack Obama at their second presidential debate. Photo credit: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
ABC’s George Will said the second Barack Obama-Mitt Romney showdown was the best presidential debate he’d ever seen.
Yes, he said that. Do you agree?
Conservative columnist Will said that Obama “cauterized” wounds he had inflicted on himself in the first debate and that both men “tiptoed right up to the point of rudeness but stepped back.”
Here was Will’s take: “It was a very good fight. I have seen every presidential debate in American history” since 1960. “This was immeasurably the best.”
Will saluted Obama’s ”tactical victory” in holding his response to Romney’s 47 percent comment to the end. “As a tactical measure, the president did very well indeed,” Will said.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said that Obama went on the offensive, came out swinging from the start and didn’t stop. Blitzer said Romney was effective when he listed promises the president failed to deliver.
But Chris Matthews of MSNBC scored Obama the winner on six questions, Romney the victor on one and a draw on three. “Obama got the last punch in and I think it was decisive,” Matthews said.
Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, also on MSNBC, agreed that Obama had the last word and that matters. “The president hit him real hard right on the nose with the 47 percent comment,” Schmidt said.
ABC’s Matthew Dowd said that when Republicans start attacking the umpire, you know they knew they had lost. George Stephanopoulos said that Ed Gillespie of the Romney campaign was complaining about moderator Candy Crowley of CNN.
How big a difference was the second debate from the first? ABC’s Diane Sawyer read a tweet that Obama woke up in the second debate.
ABC’s David Muir said it was evident that Obama and Romney didn’t like each other. When Romney asked Obama about pensions, the president managed to turn the question around on his opponent, Muir said.
CBS’ Jan Crawford noted that Obama came out more aggressively, but that Romney’s goal was to focus on Obama’s record. Crawford said Romney was most effective in those passages.
Republican strategist Nicolle Wallace, on ABC, said Romney had done what he needed to do and complained about Obama’s anger and visceral attacks on Romney. Wallace also blasted Crowley’s “activist role” and complained that the room was stacked against Romney.
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, also on ABC, said Republicans complain about the moderator when they lose the debate. “Mitt Romney was not on his game,” she said. “Tonight Obama won because he was able to answer Mitt Romney and all the things he said two weeks ago.”
NBC’s Tom Brokaw said both candidates played to their constituencies and that what matters is the reaction of the group in the middle.
CNN’s David Gergen said that Obama did well enough to blunt Romney’s momentum after the first debate. A CNN poll said Obama was the winner, 46 percent to 39 percent.
ABC’s Stephanopoulos said that the latest debate raised the stakes for the third on Monday. Bob Schieffer of CBS will moderate.
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