re: #68 Killgore Trout

Obama has no trouble being confrontational. Remember his meetings with Republicans leaders over healthcare reform? He laid them out and debunked the lies, mistruths, etc without hesitation. Obama was having an off night and wasn’t well prepared for the debate. I don’t think it was part of a secret master plan, he didn’t perform well.

Sitting presidents tend to do poorly in the first debate. No matter how hard they prep, the fact remains that they are used to a deference as head of state that a debate opponent will not extend to them. They also haven’t debated anyone publicly for years whereas their opponent will have gone through a number of debates to win the nomination. Usually, the president does better in the 2nd debate. The only real exceptions were Ford and Bush the Elder, and they both lost the election (there was only 1 debate in 1980, so Jimmy Carter never got a chance to rebound in that way).