Romney owns the first debate

If President Obama showed up to the debate last night expecting a gaff prone Mitt Romney, he was quickly disabused of that sentiment. Unlike his debate coach, John Kerry, Romney was energetic, in control of the facts, and ready to command the stage.

In other words, he was Presidential.

Commanding, pleasant, persistent, and focused, Romney was in his element. He displayed not only a deft grasp of the facts and issues at hand, but a demeanor and persona that was commanding and persuasive, repeatedly restating where the President was misconstruing his policies and taking the President to task for failed policies.

If anyone last night summed up what he was doing, it was Chris “chills up my leg” Matthews: “You know what he was doing? He was WINNING!” (Matthews also felt like Obama should watch MSNBC more regularly, and said as much, several times, but that’s beside the point…)

Winning. That’s what Romney was doing.

A few zingers and highlights of the night:

“Mr. President, you’re entitled to your own house and your own airplane, but not your own facts.”

(NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Boom!

“Look, I got five boys. I’m used to people saying something that’s not always true, but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping I will believe it.”

Ka-pow!

“I’ve been in business for 25 years. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Maybe I need to get a new accountant, but the idea you get a break for shipping jobs overseas, is simply not the case.”

Ouch.

This last one, on Obama’s assertion that there is a tax break for moving workers overseas (there’s not), was perhaps the moment of the night when Obama’s credibility took the biggest hit and Romney’s rose the highest. Here’s a guy–Romney–who has spent his career as a CEO, knows how business works, and when the President tries to throw liberal red meat out to the television audience, Romney said, in essence, “No, I don’t think so. That’s my area of expertise, and that’s just not the way it is.”

Game. Set. Match. Romney.

Whether measured on style or substance, Romney outpaced the flat-footed Obama to prove a command and understanding of the core issue of this campaign: the economy and getting it working again. When he promised that during his first term he would help get 12 million people back to work, viewers believed him, could see his command of the skill-set needed to get the economy rolling again, and caught a vision of President Romney taking steps to get the government out-of-the-way so jobs can return and America can grow.

A month remains in the campaign, and Obama won’t be caught unprepared, again. He was strong on banks and Medicare, but Romney effectively neutralized him owning those issues. Future debates will cover issues that are more difficult for Romney, but for now, on what was perhaps the most watch debate in decades, Romney proved that this race is far from over.