Romney Wins Round One

CNN/ORC flash poll after the debate:
Romney 67%, Barck Obama 25%

Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Governor Mitt Romney emerged from the first presidential debate as the clear winner. There were a lot of good moments in last night's debate, but the best part was watching the heads of liberal commentators explode. The poster boy of this phenomenon was "MSDNC's" Chris Matthews.

You may recall that Barack Obama once gave Chris Matthews a "thrill up my leg." Matthews also confessed that it was his job to make sure Obama succeeded. Last night the thrill retreated down his leg as Matthews gave "O's" performance a 0. You can watch his on-air meltdown here. Andrew Sullivan of the left-wing Daily Beast wrote, "This was a disaster" for Obama.

After a good night's rest, I was curious to see how the liberal media would spin the debate this morning. There was no change. Every liberal commentator on TV this morning was dumbfounded. Before last night they thought the election was over. Clearly it is not. They thought the cool Obama would easily beat the stiff Romney. He did not.

The most difficult aspect of last night's debate to explain is the body language. Obama constantly refused to look at Mitt Romney, and instead spent much of the time looking at his notes. One commentator asked, "What was he doing? Preparing for the next debate?" A columnist for the Washington Times put it well when he wrote:

"Bewildered and lost without his teleprompter, President Obama flailed all around the debate stage last night. He was stuttering, nervous and petulant. It was like he had been called in front of the principal after goofing around for four years and blowing off all his homework."
Romney, in contrast, was confident, prepared, in command of his facts, and he made several points each time he was given those precious few moments to speak to the American people. He wasted no opportunities to make his case that Obama has failed and that we can do better.

On the substance, there were several good exchanges with Governor Romney coming out on top in virtually every one. Here are a few examples:

• Despite the weak economy and high energy prices, Obama couldn't stop himself from attacking American industry. He specifically went after $4 billion in tax deductions claimed by the oil industry. Romney pounced:
  
  "First of all, the Department of Energy has said the tax break for oil companies is $2.8 billion a year. And it's actually an accounting treatment, as you know, that's been in place for a hundred years. … And in one year, you provided $90 billion in breaks to the green-energy world. … that's about 50 years' worth of what oil and gas receives. … 50 years' worth of breaks -- into solar and wind -- to Solyndra and Fisker and Tesla and Ener1. I had a friend who said you don't just pick the winners and losers, you pick the losers. So this is not the kind of policy you want to have if you want to get America energy secure."
  
• Obama also trotted out another of left's tired old lies when he said he wanted to end tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas. Romney replied: "Look, I've been in business for 25 years. I have no idea what you're talking about. I maybe need to get a new accountant. But the idea that you get a break for shipping jobs overseas is simply not the case." Watch it here.
  
  
• When it came to job creation, Obama's big idea was to hire 100,000 teachers. The federal government does not hire teachers! Local school districts do that -- when and if their budgets (the taxpayers) can afford it. In contrast, Governor Romney emphasized his energy plan, which would allow private industries to create millions of new jobs.
  
  
• Toward the end of the debate, the subject shifted to the role of government, and Governor Romney hit a home run. He said, "The role of government is to promote and protect the principles" found in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. He continued:
  
  "In that line that says, 'We are endowed by our Creator with our rights,' I believe we must maintain our commitment to religious tolerance and freedom in this country. That statement also says that we are endowed by our Creator with the right to pursue happiness as we choose. …
  
  "We're a nation that believes that we are all children of the same God… And we look for discovery and innovation, all these things desired out of the American heart to provide the pursuit of happiness for our citizens. But we also believe in maintaining for individuals the right to pursue their dreams and not to have the government substitute itself for the rights of free individuals." Watch their exchange here.

Going into last night's debate, the polls overwhelmingly predicted Obama would win. One national media poll released Monday found that 55% of likely voters believed Barack Obama would win the debate, compared to just 31% predicting Governor Romney would win. CNN did a snap poll of 430 adults who watched the debate and by a margin of 67% to 25%, they said Governor Romney had won. CBS polled 500 undecided voters after the debate and by a more than 2-to-1 margin, (46% to 22%) they also declared Mitt Romney the winner.
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Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families. Bauer was a former Republican presidential candidate and served as President Ronald Reagan’s domestic policy adviser.

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