Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Why I think Obama lost last night

I think President Obama lost the debate last night, not because he screwed up, but because the whole debate was so damn boring. I’m an Obama fan, and I turned it off at 9:37 to go read a book, which turned out to be a better use of my time. Political journalists will go on ...

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I think President Obama lost the debate last night, not because he screwed up, but because the whole debate was so damn boring. I'm an Obama fan, and I turned it off at 9:37 to go read a book, which turned out to be a better use of my time.

I think President Obama lost the debate last night, not because he screwed up, but because the whole debate was so damn boring. I’m an Obama fan, and I turned it off at 9:37 to go read a book, which turned out to be a better use of my time.

Political journalists will go on and on today about the debate, but remember, they had to watch the whole thing, and got paid to do that and also to yak about it. I think that skews their judgment — they lacked the reasonable option the rest of us had, of just turning it off. 

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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