Steamrolled

Spoke to Mona Charen, Jim McTague, Brett Arends;  also Salena Zito, Taegan Goddard, Salena Zito, Kori Schake, Larry Johnson, John Fund in re the first presidential debate; and the seamless opinion is that Mitt Romney steamrolled over Barack Obama.  A confident, fact-filled, engaged and polished Mitt Romney used a flood of policy statements and a deal of historical detail to counter and push back against the president's surprisingly half-hearted repetition of campaign slogans and electioneering tropes.  The instant polling shows the public overwhelmingly leaning toward the Romney win.  Romney now has two weeks to enjoy the success and move the polling and the fund-raising in his direction.  Also, Mitt Romney mentioned the "Middle East" in his closing remarks, and that is a marker for the foreign policy debate on October 22 that closes the debate season.  The news from Syria, from Libya, Iran, Egypt and especially from the Benghazi tragedy all point to a drip drip drip of bad news from the White House.  My latest information points to continued provocations by Hizballah and Iran along the Israeli border, with additional pressure on the Obama administration to respond positively the threat to Israel with just weeks to the Election.  Does the enemy study the calendar?  Yes.