Obama spokesperson Stephanie Cutter took a swipe at moderator Jim Lehrer's largely passive debate performance tonight, saying the PBS anchor had allowed Mitt Romney to act as the moderator.
"I sometimes wondered if we even needed a moderator because we had Mitt Romney," Cutter told CNN shortly after the debate, though she told POLITICO that Lehrer did his job as moderator and that her comments were strictly about Romney.
Cutter's decision to knock Lehrer may signal an acknowledgment by the Obama campaign that the president did not perform as well as his challenger, Mitt Romney -- which was the general consensus of the media, including the usually pro-Obama MSNBC. (MSNBC hosts Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz slammed Obama's performance.)
Many on the left criticized Lehrer for being too silent. He rarely interrupted the candidates when they went over their allotted time, and when he did it was almost always a losting battle. His attempts to control the conversation were so notably nonconfrontational that they became memorialized in a Twitter handle named @SilentJimLehrer.
But Lehrer's passivity also allowed the two candidates to engage one another, and if Obama did not engage Romney or land any singificant blows, he may have no one to blame but himself. Though it is the moderator's responsibility to keep time and keep the candidates on topic, it was up to the president -- not the moderator -- to take on his challenger.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/10/obamas-cutter-takes-swipe-at-lehrer-137444.html
Obama's spinners were reduced to saying that Romney won because he had prepared more. I guess being president isn't preparation for meeting an opponent one-on-one. He's too used to being met with adoring crowds or sycophantic aides and journalists. Perhaps if he spent more time doing his job instead of hanging out with his Hollywood pals or on Letterman or Jon Stewart or The View, Obama might have been prepared also. Instead he made Clint Eastwood's empty chair routine seem quite prescient.
When they weren't whining that Romney was better prepared than Obama, they were blaming Jim Lehrer. What Lehrer did was get out of the way and liberals are too used to MSM journalists making their arguments for them. What this debate did was leave the moderator to the side so the candidates could discuss policy on their own. The moderators aren't there to score points off the politicians. Basically, Lehrer asked how they differed and got out of the way. I liked this format.
The man is the President of the United States. And his aides have to defend him by saying that Jim Lehrer should have done more to help him out? That kinda makes our argument, doesn't it?
"I sometimes wondered if we even needed a moderator because we had Mitt Romney," Cutter told CNN shortly after the debate, though she told POLITICO that Lehrer did his job as moderator and that her comments were strictly about Romney.
Cutter's decision to knock Lehrer may signal an acknowledgment by the Obama campaign that the president did not perform as well as his challenger, Mitt Romney -- which was the general consensus of the media, including the usually pro-Obama MSNBC. (MSNBC hosts Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz slammed Obama's performance.)
Many on the left criticized Lehrer for being too silent. He rarely interrupted the candidates when they went over their allotted time, and when he did it was almost always a losting battle. His attempts to control the conversation were so notably nonconfrontational that they became memorialized in a Twitter handle named @SilentJimLehrer.
But Lehrer's passivity also allowed the two candidates to engage one another, and if Obama did not engage Romney or land any singificant blows, he may have no one to blame but himself. Though it is the moderator's responsibility to keep time and keep the candidates on topic, it was up to the president -- not the moderator -- to take on his challenger.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/10/obamas-cutter-takes-swipe-at-lehrer-137444.html
Obama's spinners were reduced to saying that Romney won because he had prepared more. I guess being president isn't preparation for meeting an opponent one-on-one. He's too used to being met with adoring crowds or sycophantic aides and journalists. Perhaps if he spent more time doing his job instead of hanging out with his Hollywood pals or on Letterman or Jon Stewart or The View, Obama might have been prepared also. Instead he made Clint Eastwood's empty chair routine seem quite prescient.
When they weren't whining that Romney was better prepared than Obama, they were blaming Jim Lehrer. What Lehrer did was get out of the way and liberals are too used to MSM journalists making their arguments for them. What this debate did was leave the moderator to the side so the candidates could discuss policy on their own. The moderators aren't there to score points off the politicians. Basically, Lehrer asked how they differed and got out of the way. I liked this format.
The man is the President of the United States. And his aides have to defend him by saying that Jim Lehrer should have done more to help him out? That kinda makes our argument, doesn't it?