
‐ We don’t know why everyone is being so hard on Obama’s debate performance. He did fine. Carry on, Mr. President!
‐ Every famous political debate is coated with myth. Reagan did not in fact trounce Carter in 1980, nor Kennedy Nixon in 1960. But the myths are right too, for a debate — especially when the result is a surprise — can nudge the tectonic plates. The first Obama–Romney debate produced two surprises. Obama, considered by his admirers (including himself) the modern Moses, was listless and dispirited. (Al Gore thought he’d had trouble adjusting to Denver’s elevation, though the U.S. …