Before you pepper with me with insolence, hear me out.
If the election were tomorrow, I think Barack Obama would win. Barely.
People around here are putting up poll results and jumping to conclusions way too early.
What Mitt Romney's post-debate bump tells us is that he gets a real chance with this moment to grab control of the news cycle and use it to get people to think of him as the guy with the right energy to help get this country roaring again, which is what it wants so badly to do.
Romney came out like a lion and a lot of people are at least open to what he's going to say and do the next few days and into the second debate. And if he acquits himself well with the same energy and hunger for moving the country in the totally ridiculous direction he'd like to take it, today's batch of polls will seem like ancient history a week or so from now when it looks like Romney is within striking distance of 270 should VA, NC, OH, and FL start going his way.
The whole topic of conversation this weekend all over the news shows was essentially, "Does Barack Obama even want to be President?".
If the feeling in the air continues to revolve around whether our guy is spent after having been one of the best janitors this nation has ever seen, than today's polls are meaningless compared to where they'll be by the end of the week.
With his debate win, Romney is given a chance to pivot now and start speaking of his vision for our greatness and blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, it could very well be that our side doubles down on attacking Romney as a flip-flopper. Doing so helps him come back at us with, "They're desperate and out of ideas, and that's why they're attacking me."
Obama's back is to the wall now. This is his last election. There are a number of ways he can screw this up, but there is only one way for him to succeed, and it's to go bigger and farther and more visionary than Romney.
Barack Obama is a transformative figure on the political scene. If he is to be great, it will be because in the face of all challenges, he met and equaled them. He wins when he speaks of big things. He loses when he plays small ball the way he did in the first debate.
I'm sorry fellow liberals, but the feeling in the air at the moment is whether this guy has his full heart and soul into this, or whether he's been beaten down some by one of the loneliest jobs in the world. Yes, if the election were held tomorrow, we'd squeak this one out, but that we're talking small ball instead of inspiring awe about the future of the country is seriously troubling. Say what you will about the numbers, but we don't have the Big Mo. It's not in our bones the way it was a week ago.