Oh dear, President Obama didn't look himself last night and so say Twitterers. It was broadcast live on YouTube for the first time.
An analysis of Tweets by Crimson Hexagon reliably, showed that 10.3m Tweets during the debate, set a new record, with 26% saying Obama looked "rusty".
16% were in support of the President, 22% for Romney (with only 12% disagreeing with him). In plain English that's actually a landslide for Romney.
The moderator, ex US marine Jim Lehrer (a well experienced debate corespondent) was badly criticised for not keeping control and 14% of the Tweets were just jokes.
A post-event poll by CNN gave victory to Romney 2:1. Topsy, a Social Media aggregator, showed that Romney tweets spiked 2.5 times more than Obama.
So if you want to use Social Media as a guide, there's no doubt that public opinion was with Romney. And I concur.
Having no bias and having sat up until 330am, there was little doubt in my mind who was the winner (and I've worked on political campaigns in Ireland so I've a little experience of this). He was confident, thoroughly well briefed and almost presidential. Obama looked a tired, beaten old man with an almost "couldn't care less" demeanour.
And yet, Obama is one of the greatest orators.
It seemed to me (and it's one of the old tricks) that Obama was told not to fight, look confident and casual. In other words, don't try too hard because you're a winner. In keeping a stance like that, it often looks like you're in control but can sometimes just look so casual that it's like you're not bothered. "I am the President and I've nothing to fear" so the strategy goes. It makes the other candidate fight and possibly, trip up.
But this backfired.
Clinton was the master of the "I'm in control" stance.
And if you're interested in American politics, buy Robert Caro's just published new book on Lyndon Johnson - a truly wonderful piece of work as was his previous. It's just terrific. The video on this blog is worth a listen to get a sense of the real Johnson. A really remarkable fellow.
Anyway, Obama is in trouble.
So expect one thing - a different fighting stance next debate.
He'll come out charged up and attack Romney.
Watch it and smile.
