Obama campaign: Adjustments will be made in debate strategy
The Hill ^
Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2012 12:53:51 PM by
Obama campaign: Adjustments will be made in debate strategy By Amie Parnes - 10/04/12 12:06 PM ET
Adjustments will have to be made in President Obama's debate strategy, his advisers said Thursday, the morning after the president stumbled in his first showdown with Mitt Romney.
David Axelrod, Obama’s senior campaign strategist, said they are going to take "a hard look" at Obama’s debate performance and that they’ll “have to make some judgments about where to draw the lines in these debates and how to use our time.”
“It’s like a playoff in sports,” Axelrod said to reporters on a conference call, adding that there are strategic judgments “that have to be made and we’ll make them.”
Axelrod's comments reflected an overall sentiment from Obama world — from his staunchest loyalists to donors and even some aides — who tried to make sense of the thrashing they had witnessed Wednesday night.
They conceded the president was listless and seemingly tired and did nothing to combat a fiery Romney, who was on the attack and dominated much of the debate. And they called Wednesday’s debate a missed opportunity for Obama in terms of putting the race away, after a strong month coming off of the Democratic National Convention.
“I’ve put down my paper bag and I am breathing again,” said one former administration official, who readily acknowledged that Obama endured a serious thumping in the debate. Another former Obama aide said, “it was obvious for everybody that his energy level was low — especially for the president.”
“Look, it was just a terrible performance,” an Obama donor said, adding Thursday morning “felt like a hangover and no alcohol was involved.”
Even former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell weighed in, saying Obama “looked lethargic, disinterested, passive.
"I can't believe the president didn't fight back. He had so many openings... he let [Romney] get away with one misstatement after another without fighting back, didn't mention the 47 percent. When Romney mentioned his accountant he had nothing to say. If there was a strategy it was a noncombatant strategy and it makes no sense."
Obama aides quickly sought to push back on the narrative that the president flubbed the debate in a big way.
On the conference call with reporters, Axelrod called Romney an “artful dodger” who failed to answer questions about his policies in the debate and that Obama can’t afford to “allow someone to manhandle the truth.”
Axelrod credited Romney for a “vigorous” performance in Colorado.
“Governor Romney came to give a performance and he gave a good performance. The problem was none of it was rooted in fact,” he said.
“He may win the Oscar for his performance last night but he’s not going to win the presidency for his performance.”
Romney's campaign shot back that the Obama staff offered no defense of the president.
“The Obama campaign’s conference call today was just like the President’s performance last night. The campaign, like the President, offered no defense of the President’s first term record or vision for a second term, and instead, offered nothing but false attacks, petulant statements, and lies about Governor Romney’s record," said Romney campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg.
Those who know Obama say he, probably more than anyone, understands what went wrong on Wednesday night.
“I don’t think his advisers need to tell him anything – the president is a competitive guy, “He knows what happened. He’ll know what to do for the next one.”
