Has Obama reenergized Democrats with debate performance? (+video)
(Read article summary)Obama’s forceful performance Tuesday night is likely to quiet Democrats’ doubts and help energize them for the tough final weeks of the campaign. Snap surveys judged Obama the winner, but the big question is whether his slide in the polls will stop now.
Washington
Did President Obama energize Democrats with his performance at Tuesday night’s debate on Long Island in New York? After all, there’s been lots of bemoaning among his party faithful in recent days. Many of them judged Mr. Obama’s first debate performance in Denver a disaster. Some went so far as to wonder whether the president’s apparent lethargy in the Rocky Mountain smackdown two weeks ago meant he didn’t really want to be president anymore.
Well, they can come in off the ledge. Obama’s performance at Hofstra University should quiet Democrats’ doubts and help energize them for the tough final weeks of the campaign. Whether the president’s forceful, almost physical confrontations with GOP nominee Mitt Romney stop his slide in the polls remains to be seen. But snap surveys judged Obama the night’s winner (though not by the margin Mr. Romney enjoyed after the first debate). And partisans were thrilled by Obama’s attacks on his rival’s policies and defense of his own administration.
“To my mind, Obama dominated Romney tonight in every single way: in substance, manner, style, and personal appeal ... he behaved like a president,” wrote influential Daily Beast blogger Andrew Sullivan.
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