Sorry, it just struck me -- the POTUS is at a SUPREME disadvantage in this debate -- and it just gets clearer and clearer every time Romney smirks. Simply put, Obama won't lie. Moreover, he's pretty well forced into wasting time pointing out the ways in which Romney is lying -- while Romney stands there nyeah-nyeahing, "No, I didn't." (Imagine a snotty six year old girl saying this for the full effect.)
Watch. Because Romney's smirking every time he forces our POTUS to stop and correct Romney's words, or explicate the facts. He's smirking every time Obama responds to what Romney has said for months his position is, while Romney gets to stand there and say something completely different.
Damn it, it's the best possible play he could have made (given who he is) -- and for low-information voters, just starting to pay attention to this race, it may very well be effective. He's shoveling on so much shit it would take twenty times as long as he's spending talking to unearth the truth for those viewers.
It should have been totally foreseeable. We are in the world of Orwell now, in which being restricted to the truth by your own honorability is a potential weakness.
Watch the smirk. Every time. Obama swings at the place where Mittens was standing, and Flip-flop Romney has sleazed his way over to a completely different position.