Strong offense, weak defense characterized first debate

The bottom line on engagement with an American public not 5 weeks from Election Day: Romney was alert, energized and confident. Obama slumped his shoulders, smiled mostly to himself, and for some reason kept staring down. He was that guy at the meeting who’s surreptitiously checking his email.

The exciting 2008 candidate of hope and change? Gone. Even the larger-than-life American eagle hanging behind the two candidates seemed perplexed.

This was, though, a serious exchange blessedly shy of rehearsed jabs – that gentlemanly, biceps-gripping handshake followed by the one-against-one collision this presidential race hadn’t seen.

Romney moved fast to keep viewers from straying to ESPN. By 8:12 p.m. Chicago time, he already had evoked Vice President Joe Biden’s gaffe of the week: Romney suggested that under Obama’s policies, the middle class has been “buried.” Not until 8:24 did Obama retort with his own one-liner – that the American economy was sound when his fellow Democrat Bill Clinton was president.

By then, though, the talk about federal tax rates was deeply in the weeds. Before the debate’s economic segment had ended, we wondered if we had tuned into a reality program, “The Wonk and the Prof.” The former, Romney, was agile and ready to rumble; the prof, by contrast, seemed wordy and defensive.

That projection from Obama makes some sense: For the first time in 16 years, a Democratic president had to defend a first term in the White House in a national debate.

But as the night wore on, it was Romney brimming with ideas and offering that he would rather work out specific solutions with Congress next year, not issue ultimatums to the legislative branch today. Obama talked more about the health care plan he signed into law than he did about initiatives he would advance in a second term.

Both of these men boast Ivy League degrees. And each has shown himself capable of tremendous personal achievement.