Was it the Altitude…or the Attitude?

The first of the debates is now history, and what a disappointing piece of history at that. Unless, of course, your household is one of the famed top one percent, which holds over 35 per cent of the nation’s wealth. Or, if you are one of the 99 bottom per cent — or even part of the 47 per cent that Mitt Romney has said he doesn’t care about — and you prefer to support Governor Romney for President, in spite of your own economic interest. I know, there are a lot of 99-per-centers out there who support Romney, for whatever reason, and those folks can be pretty happy about the outcome of debate number one.

That is, if they don’t value honesty as a debating skill.

Depending on whom you go to for factchecking, Romney told 18, 25, or 27 lies during the time he spoke in the debate. Some sources combine some statements into one or overlook some of allegations, but  even a dozen fibs should make those who support Romney think again.

I am not going to list them all here, but here are a few that caught my attention

Romney said, "If the president’s reelected you’ll see dramatic cuts to our military.” Obama opposed cuts to the Military. Remember that Republicans want to increase funding for military pork-barrel programs, that military leaders say they don’t want and don’t need.

Romney said, “I don’t have a five-trillion-dollar tax cut.” Independent analysis of Romney’s plan for a 20 per cent across-the-board tax cut in all federal income tax rates, eliminating the estate tax and including other tax reductions, would reduce federal revenue by $480 billion in 2015. This amounts to $5 trillion over the following decade.

Romney said that half of the green-energy firms the nation invested in under Obama have gone out of business. He said, “A number of them happened to be owned by people who were contributors to your campaigns.” Actually, only “three out of the 26 recipients of Section 1705 loan guarantees from the Department of energy have filed for bankruptcy, with losses estimated at just over $600 million. Those who have received loans and grants have been supporters of both parties’ candidates.

There were many more falsehoods — on taxes, on Medicare, on energy independence, and on other topics.

With so many myths and misstatements coming forth from Romney’s mouth, Obama’s supporters were angered and perplexed as to why our president did not do more to defend himself and his policies and performance.

NBC’s Saturday Night Live and other topical humor outlets have had a great time with this question. Serious columnists and pundits and commentators have asked why Obama did so poorly.

Was it the relatively thin air of the mile-high city, where the debate took place?

The debate happened to fall on Obama’s twentieth wedding anniversary. Had there been a family argument earlier?

“Here, Michelle. I wanted to give you your anniversary gift.”

“Oh, Barack, thank you. It’s a — a purse. But this is the same purse you gave me five years ago. I never used it, because I…well, I never liked the style…”

“Oh, honey, look. This purse is different.”

“No it’s not! This is the same handbag you gave me before. You just stuck a Presidential Seal sticker on it.”

“Well, it’s not like I’ve had a lot of time to go shopping at the mall! Oh, I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Biden…”

Well, maybe that wasn’t it either.

Maybe  Obama was just preoccupied with the weighty matters of running the country.  

Or maybe it was a combination of several things, many of which we will never know.

Neither Obama nor debate moderator Jim Lehrer was at the top of his game that night.

Maybe they were both affected by the noxious fumes emanating from Mitt Romney’s trousers, as they remained on fire, for an hour and a half.