Why Obama's debate performance was so mediocre: 4 theories

Armchair analysts agree: A surprisingly listless Obama failed to meet the challenge of an aggressive Mitt Romney in Wednesday's debate. What happened?

President Obama
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The consensus is clear: President Obama fell short Wednesday night, letting Mitt Romney run away with the first of this year's three presidential debates. In a CNN snap poll, 67 percent of viewers said Romney won the showdown, and 61 percent said Obama delivered a performance worse than they expected. Conservatives and liberals alike were flabbergasted that in 90 minutes on stage, Obama didn't once mention Romney's derisive comments about the "47 percent" of Americans who pay no federal income taxes. And many liberals were tearing their hair out, frustrated that Obama was so reserved in the face of Romney's attacks, many of them debunked by fact-checkers. "I don't know what [Obama] was doing out there" MSNBC's Chris Matthews lamented. "He had his head down, he was enduring the debate rather than fighting it." Why was the president so flat? Here, four theories:

1. He was playing it safe

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