Viewsday

Editorial cartoonists get a word in edgewise for the presidential debates between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.

Click here to see the gallery...

This was not the Barack Obama who famously said, "I'm LeBron, baby," brimming with overconfidence before his 2004 speech.

This was not the sharp-elbowed Obama who would never be described as a soft player on the basketball court.

This was some other guy who simply lacked fire.

If the FBI is not busy in Benghazi, they should be checking out the abduction of the president....

What would these guys do to end paralysis is Washington?

Romney says Republicans and Democrats both love America, but we need leadership.

Obama says he'll take ideas from anyone. Super. Problem solved.

Obama says you have to have a plan. well, he has always had a clear plan, which puts him ahead of Romney, but he's already failed to enact it, which costs him points against Romney.

Now...

Education is such a great debate to have, because nobody actually has the slightest idea what to do.

Romney: "I love great schools."

Bold, sir, bold.

The debate right now is supposed to be about the role of government in America.

Romney is pushing the idea that the rights actually come from our Creator. They don't, of course. If they did, they'd have these same...

This entire debate was so specialized and in the weeds by 8:45 that normal people had already returned to playing Words With Friends even before the talk turned to government regulation.

Gracious.

Romney says banks shouldn't be too big to fail. That seems new, I think. Obama thinks the same, only more so, but he's the president, and we have banks on his watch that are way too big to...

Mathophobes like me are already watching a movie, unless their boss wants them to watch the debate.

Numbers at these levels can kill.

Why can't Jon Stewart be the moderator? Or Billy Crystal? Or Craig Ferguson? At least we'd get a great Scottish accent....

Social Security isn't a very fertile topic for these guys because there are only a couple of ways to fix it, and they're both more mathematical than political. It is the most bipartisan of our challenges. Obama seems to be getting back into the debate, though. Same with Lehrer.

Unlike Medicare, where the candidates are going to argue about the mythical $716 billion cut to Medicare in Obamacare.

And...

Overall, Romney seems more comfortable than usual, and Obama less. And Lehrer just seems like a paperweight.

Ah, the deficit. and how to fix it.

Romney wants to lower spending on all programs that aren't so critical we should borrow money from China to fund it. No Obamacare, no PBS (I agree, but there's no money in it), combining departments, etc. So, no answer at all, particularly when...

It begins.

The emphasis, moderator Jim Lehrer says, will be on specifics and differences between the candidates. From his lips to God's ears.

First question: What are the major differences between the two of them, in how they would go about creating new jobs?

Obama wishes his wife a happy 20th anniversary, then talks about how horrible his challenges have been. Will he keep pivoting,...

Finally, it's time for the next "moment we've all been waiting for" in the presidential election. The first presidential debate of the general election will begin at 9 p.m. EST.

This contest seems to have been going on since, practically, the dawn of time. It began the day after the 2008 election, for President Barack Obama. For Mitt Romney, it began even before that, by a few months...