Van Jones: 'Romney Was Able to Out-Obama Obama'

The first presidential debate of 2012, held October 3 in Denver, produced one of the most lopsided verdicts in modern debate history: Mitt Romney won, and it wasn't close. President Obama looked flat and listless; Romney looked energetic, prepared, and — the surprise of the night — moderate, pivoting to the center on taxes, Medicare, and regulation.

The verdict crossed party lines. On CNN's post-debate panel, Democratic commentator Van Jones delivered the line of the night: "Romney was able to out-Obama Obama." His meaning: Romney had borrowed Obama's 2008 playbook — the calm, above-the-fray, bipartisan problem-solver — while the actual Obama stood there looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.

James Carville, the veteran Democratic strategist, was blunter in his concession that it had been a bad night for the president. Polls taken after the debate showed Romney gaining ground nationally and in swing states, erasing much of Obama's post-convention lead.

Obama's team promised a more aggressive president in the next debate — and delivered one in the town-hall format two weeks later. But the Denver debate remains the textbook example of how a single 90-minute performance can reset a campaign: Romney went in as the underdog and came out, briefly, as the man with the momentum.