Obama's Abrasiveness and Evasiveness Won't Save His campaign

Mitt Romney, if he didn't win, certainly had a better night that Barack Obama did. Romney was up not only against Obama but also against Candy Crowley, a host who was clearly biased, and he faced an audience with more plants in it than your average family farm.

Barack Obama showed up at this debate. Perhaps his campaign poured some Jolt Cola down his throat or maybe he got a Starbucks espresso IV.

The real problem that Barack Obama had was he would not answer a question. It started with the early questions about Steven Chu, the Obama Energy Secretary. The question was Chu had said that it was not the job of the Energy Department to bring down the price of gas. Obama was asked if he agreed with that statement.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 campaign.]

Obama's answer may be a secret as closely guarded as Jimmy Hoffa's final resting place. That was not the only time Obama did that; he did it the entire debate. Obama spent the debate attacking Romney, rich people ,and saying abortion is a good thing.

If Obama did not answer questions, he lied about Libya. This was probably the best opportunity of the night that Romney had and did not take advantage of. Romney hit Obama on the issue of Libya and calling the attack terrorism. Several days after the Libya attack, Obama went to the United Nations and blamed the attack on the "Innocence of the Muslims" video. If he knew this was a terrorist attack almost immediately, why did he tell the United Nations it was caused by this video?

Romney's strongest point in the night was when he repeatedly rattled off facts and figures. The best Obama could do was attack Mitt Romney for being rich.

[Check out our editorial cartoons on President Obama.]

Partisans on each side will claim their candidate won. For Obama, he needed more than simply a victory. He needed Romney to make a major mistake. Romney did not make that mistake.

Romney's best moments were when he listed the failures of the Obama regime. Obama had no answer. Obama had no answer for Libya. When Obama is fact checked on some of his comments on Libya, his untruthful comments may come back to haunt him.

For Obama, it is hard to say he had a great moment. He was aggressive and abrasive. Fortunately for America, Obama's abrasiveness and his question dodging will not be enough to save his campaign.

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2012 presidential election,

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