I can’t hear another word of analysis about this debate. I’m going to short-step the big picture: Mitt Romney’s performance was better than President Obama’s, which, in basic terms means Mitt Romney won the debate. I have a couple of theories why…

President Obama’s first sentence sounded pensive. The first thing he did was wish his wife a happy 20th wedding anniversary and then apologize that it had to be celebrated with 40 million viewers. This is telling…

I think that set the tone. He was just plain old out of his head because he was really that bothered by having to be at a debate when he wanted to be alone with his wife. Thereafter, it took him a little extra effort to be in the game of the debate. Mentally and emotionally, he was not there. But, once he got in the game – belabored answers or not – he did hold his own…

Mitt Romney on the other hand came ready for action… A little too ready for action. He was too aggressive and down-right rude to Jim Lehrer. Now, Jim Lehrer should have put him in his place, as expected from a moderator, but…

As I said in a tweet, “Congratulations to Jim Lehrer for moderating 12 general election debates. Give him his gold watch and introduce his successor.” It’s time…

My takeaway from Romney’s appearance: All style – no consistency, no substance. It looked good, but, if you review the facts, he made no case for his success as POTUS. He made a few points that I think have been missed…

In an answer to President Obama, Mitt Romney said, “Shipping jobs overseas is not the problem…” In spokesperson speak, that’s him acknowledging that he’s for it by diverting to another topic from it.

He also said he wants to cut exemptions and deductions from the tax code to help balance the budget. That means everyone ends up paying more tax – rich, poor or other. Isn’t that basically a tax increase? It’s a passive tax increase…

Romney outlined his medicare plan that would offer seniors 2 options, neither of which would cost the recipient a dime. Well, if one of the options is a voucher to use for private insurers who can set their own prices, how can Romney guarantee that those private insurers won’t keep increasing prices beyond the amount of the voucher? For that matter, how can he guarantee they won’t set the initial costs higher than the voucher? This is why most economists feel that a voucher program won’t work… Flawed…

And finally, and most importantly, he assaulted BIG BIRD! This is clearly a finesse flaw. It suggests he lacks compassion for the more sensitives aspects of humanity. I’m not sure he realizes that he further alienates women and mothers with these kind of plans and further validates his disconnect with real people.

But, President Obama did mis-quote Mitt Romney as one point. He said he didn’t want kids to have to borrow money from their parents to go to school when the actual statement was that kids should borrow money to start a business.

POTUS also said, “I know that healthcare providers are in business to make a profit…” but he left out the rest of that answer which should be, “But, it shouldn’t be at the expense of our seniors.”

Both candidates went back and forth about Romney’s proposed $5 trillion cuts in taxes and spending; POTUS says its real and Romney says its not. The truth is, they’re both saying the same thing in different ways. President Obama added it up and Mitt Romney chooses to talk about the tax cut without exact dollar amounts. Still the same thing…

So, when listening to political candidates talk about what they’d do, remember: It depends on what the definition of is – IS… all the fact checking is futile based on the fact that each candidate is speaking in per-capita examples, details.

Like, Cleveland, Ohio – my dear hometown, has the highest per-capita theatre seats in the country. Didn’t know that did you? Why? Because when you compare the population of Cleveland to the available seats with the population of New York City and its available seats, Cleveland has more seats! You get it now…

So the first debate is over, Mitt Romney won and President Obama has some ground to regain. I’m sure we’ll see a different POTUS in the next two debates, strategy or not. Let’s see what happens next week…

I go back to what I said in my conventions post which is… We’ve had 9 months of intense campaigning with Mitt Romney and four years of President Obama. One singular event shouldn’t override the test of time. When the last debate is over on October 22, add everything up and make your decision.

That’s the only way to make a sound decision… Choose your side…