The first presidential debate was reminiscent of a heavyweight boxing title match.
Like any smart title holder in a heavyweight championship bout, President Barack Obama and his handlers decidedly settled on a defensive strategy for round one.
Challenger, Mitt "Roundhouse" Romney predictably came out desperate and swinging -- as if it were the last round of a title fight and he needed a knockout to win.
Chances were Romney would end up stumbling over his own shoelaces. That didn't happen. Just the same, Obama was aware -- and most seasoned fight fans would realize -- that when it comes right down to it, Romney has got nothing. He's all show.
Sure, the Massachusetts's Governor may have impressed the ringsiders with his empty baseless taunts. He may have even wowed the judges by throwing more punches than the President in the first round.
But he landed nothing of any consequence because he has nothing of any consequence.
Let's face it -- both the Republican and Democratic parties are unsteady on their feet as far as standing up for Americans. But if one party by far doesn't have the people's interest's at heart. That's Romney's Conservatives, led by the obstructionist House Republicans.
That's what makes Romney's meaningless flurries and phony taunts absurd -- as if he really gave a damn about the middle and lower class. He's stands with a party that really encouraged lawlessness on Wall Street -- through deregulation -- during George W. Bush's War of Terror against the American people.
Those devastating eight years under the Bush administration made the Mafia's meddling in professional boxing look like child's play. The resulting 2008 crisis, was only the most tangible evidence of an endless list of damaging policy decisions that crippled this country and left much of the middle and lower class broke.
Knowing all that, coupled with Romney's Wall Street-like record at Bain Capital -- where he made millions for a few close pals while bankrupting scores of Americans -- should give the president all the firepower he needs to lay out Romney flat on his back.
In the meantime, Obama's appears to have been earnestly trying to pick up the pieces ever since he took office. While he hasn't been faultless, there's no fail safe blueprint for reassembling all the parts and fixing this mess in just a few short years -- a mess that took so much longer to create.
Of course, the obstructionist House Republicans over the past two years did all they could to stonewall the president, keeping their guards up and their chins tucked in to their chests -- but never fully engaging him like the professionals they are paid to be.
The president's reserved, but focused approach in the first presidential debate, was akin to that of legendary middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins, who was known for his overly cautious, defensive approach in the early rounds.
Hopkins' early rounds were reserved for studying his opponent, spying openings to exploit in the later rounds. And it should be noted, that inevitably Hopkins punctuated those later rounds with a classic knockout punch or at least, a clear victory.
But the president should keep the corporate crusader off balance by consistently jabbing Romney's Bain Capital days in his face. Maybe then, Obama will set up a jarring straight right cross -- asking the corporate crusader directly: What makes him any different than the Wall Street robber barons that nearly destroyed this country?
Predictably and absurdly, professional loudmouth ringsiders like Rush Limbaugh are insisting that the battle for the oval office is over already and victory belongs to Romney. That would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic.
Obama does have to be on guard for an "October Surprise," surely still to
come. And while the president can't underestimate the desperation of the greedy and the power hungry, the truth is we may have already seen the best Romney has to offer.
And, as long as we Americans are watching closely, it will never be enough to win the fight.
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