Presidential debates are a chore for a sitting president. He has to share the podium with an opponent who has little-to-no experience in foreign policy. That places the incumbent president incessantly on the defensive. For President Barack Obama, that specific aspect of the challenge was particularly onerous, because of his poor performance in the first presidential debate. Thus, he was under enormous pressure to be aggressive in criticizing the ever-changing policy positions of his Republican opponent, former Governor Mitt Romney. At the same time, Obama had to be careful not to sound angry or petty. Romney’s challenge was of a significantly different nature. Since he performed admirably during the first debate, he was expected to continue the same performance in the following debate. However, he knew full well that Obama was not going to be docile during the second round. In the second debate, Obama managed to get under Romney’s skin quite often in his attempt to underscore policy differences between the two. Consequently, Romney clearly looked like he was losing his cool. Obama evidently won the second round. However, the controversy related to the first two debates continued to create a momentum of their own as the third and final presidential debate approached.
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