The last 24+ hours have seen a non-stop flurry of "OMG! Romney won the debate!" hand-wringing from the left. But Romney did NOT win the debate. He may have won the beauty contest portion, but that's not the part that mattered.
Obama's debate performance was exactly what was needed for the important goal of winning the election, even if it didn't give those on the left the sense of satisfaction we might have felt if we'd been able to bash Mitt by proxy.
The right-wing's machine had spent the entire week setting the stage for the "angry black man" attack strategy (thus the 2007 video "surfaced" by Drudge of Obama speaking passionately to [gasp!] black people prior to the debate).
Obama completely killed their post-debate dog-whistle plans by being calm, professional, and honest. And in the process, he dramatically increased his approval rating AND his lead among independents. Romney gained only among republicans, who were going to vote for him, anyway.
Romney led 48 percent to 42 among independents in a Pew Research survey from April, which showed Obama ahead by 4 points nationally. Pew’s latest poll shows Obama overtaking Romney 44 percent to 42 among independents and opening up a 7-point lead nationally.
So in the only important measure - gaining among those who will swing the election - Obama won hands down, while also screwing up the pre-prepped ad campaigns from the opposing team. It was a two-fer.
Folks can stop wringing their hands, now.