President Obama had better hope that a kicked ass is covered under ObamaCare — as comedian Dennis Miller wryly observed.
Because that’s precisely what the president got in last night’s debate, courtesy of Mitt Romney — and to the astonishment of all the media pundits.
No, the Denver debate by itself won’t decide this election; Romney and Obama meet twice more and the vice presidential candidates hold one debate.
But there was little doubt which of the two White House hopefuls looked more in control of what turned out to be a serious, substantive debate.
Indeed, one word best describes Mitt Romney’s appearance last night: presidential.
And that’s precisely the image he needed to project.
A clearly confident Romney reeled off facts and figures by the gigabyte.
He made his case effectively and powerfully, time after time.
Indeed, he did more than hold his own against Obama — he dominated this debate, from start to finish.
Obama, on the other hand, was strangely detached and hesitant, relying on tired slogans and repeating unfounded accusations that blatantly ignored Romney’s rejoinders.
Even many in the pro-Obama media declared Romney the winner last night.
Romney had one especially effective retort: “I’ve got five boys. I’m used to people saying something that’s not always true but just keep on repeating it, ultimately hoping I’ll believe it.”
Happily, moderator Jim Lehrer stayed pretty much out of the fray, letting the candidates go at each other head to head.
And those voters looking at Romney for the first time, without the prism of the media or the convention’s scripted speeches, had to be mighty impressed with what they saw: a rock-solid candidate who didn’t hesitate or fumble and was constantly on top of his game, on top of the issues and on top of the facts.
Romney spoke like an adult and said adult things about the choices and sacrifices that have to be made to restore America’s growth.
Including telling Lehrer to his face that he would cut the taxpayer subsidy for Lehrer’s network, PBS.
In the process, Romney may have finally destroyed the myth of his being the uncaring champion of the rich at the expense of the middle class.
And he did so by repeatedly reminding viewers that “under the president’s policies, middle-income Americans have been buried. . . Middle-income families are being crushed.”
Where Obama pressed for tax hikes as the way to reduce the deficit, Romney spoke of how it’s “not moral for my generation to keep spending massively more than we take in, knowing these burdens are going to be passed on to the next generation.”
When the president insisted his plan would cut $4 trillion in spending, Romney observed: “Except that we still show trillion-dollar deficits every year.”
Obama seemed at his best in defending ObamaCare — but Romney made a compelling case against it, too.
“It will mean a whole different way of life for people who counted on the insurance plan they had in the past,” he said.
“Many will lose it. You’re going to see health premiums go up by some $2,500 per family.”
And Romney reminded Americans that it was Obama — and ObamaCare — that would cut Medicare (by $716 billion).
Not Romney and Paul Ryan.
Going in to this debate, we said America would soon find out if Mitt Romney would prove himself up to the challenge of running a strong campaign against Obama.
Sure, there’s still more than a month left — and those three other debates.
But last night, America saw that Romney is most definitely up to it — and then some.