Debates, like political campaigns, are zero-sum games. One person wins, the other loses. That's the way it works.
So, even though I don't think Obama had as bad a debate as all the pundits think, he lost, Mitt Romney won, and that's how we keep score.
To turn that around, here are 10 things I think Obama and Biden must hammer home in the next three debates:
1) 47 Percent: It goes without saying that not mentioning this in the first debate was a major blunder. If Obama had simply worked in one exchange on the 47 percent comment, the entire post-debate narrative changes. No mercy -- drill this home.
2) Let Detroit Go Bankrupt. Hammer it home.
3) Massachusetts record -- Some combination of the following:
3a) The Bay State ranked 47th in the country in job creation under Romney. Again, I can't believe Obama didn't jump all over Romney's term as governor, especially since Romney brought it up. Obama left it hanging there and let Romney define himself as a moderate. Crazy.
3b) Romney left the Mass Governor's Mansion (after just one term) with a 34% approval -- the lowest in state history.
3c) He raised taxes on the middle and working class (by raising fees) while pushing for tax cuts that would have heavily benefited upper income earners.
3d) And, despite his claims now to like teachers, he slashed $250 million from K-12 in his first budget as Governor. Heck, Obama doesn't need me to tell him all this. It's on his own website: http://www.barackobama.com/...
4) Romney said that he was a "severely conservative" governor. And, his record of 844 vetoes, more than 700 of which were overridden by the state legislature, offers confirmation. His claim that he "likes to veto" echoes his claim that he "likes firing people" and flies in the face of the false bipartisan narrative he is trying to portray. He vetoed bills to raise the minimum wage, provide funding for stem cell research, provide emergency contraception, and protect against flooding in his state.
5) At Bain Capital, Romney pioneered new ways to offshore jobs to China and India. When this initially was reported, the Romney campaign lamely debated the difference between offshoring and outsourcing. Semantic arguments aside, a job lost is a job lost. Again, just consult your own website, for crying out loud.
6) Tax returns. Hello?!?!
7) Cayman Islands and Swiss Bank accounts. Hello?!?!!?
8) Mitt Romney boasted that he would get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood and would be one of if not the most ant-choice presidents we've had since Roe V. Wade. He would appoint judges to the Supreme Court that would radically change the rights of women in America for the next generation or more.
9) Romney has embraced the most radical federal budget cuts since the Gilded Age. He and Paul Ryan would turn Medicare into a voucher program. He has supported privatizing Social Security. And he would not only extend the Bush tax cuts for the highest income earners, but he would give millionaires and billionaires hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional tax cuts and pay for it by raising taxes on working and middle class families. Obama even already has a line to play here -- Robin Hood in reverse -- Romney-hood. Please, for the love of all things pure and virtuous in this world, please drive this point home. This is class warfare at its worst and would be the biggest redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the rich since before the Great Depression.
10) There is not one Romney idea that would be any different from what we saw under Bush. It's the Bush agenda on steroids. $5 trillion more in tax cuts -- none of it paid for. Permanent Defense spending increases the likes of which, depending on how you count it, we've never seen before -- none of it paid for. Extension of the Bush Tax Cuts -- none of it paid for. Endless war in Afghanistan, escalation of our involvement in Syria, incompetent Cowboy diplomacy in the Middle East and around the world -- none of it thought through or paid for. Deregulation of Wall Street, weaker clean air and clean energy standards, social engineering from the Right. If you like the catastrophic mess Bush left this country and want more of it, Romney is your candidate.
Team Obama is on top of this, but it's up to the candidates to perform. If we don't hear these points repeated over and over again over the next three debates, we will lose this race.