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The first of three presidential debates kicked off last night between Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. Even though I 100 percent “Stan” for President Obama, I was unimpressed. The gloves didn’t necessarily come off and there was no blood. A presidential debate is where you pull out your claws and prove to America that you deserve to be the man to stand up for this country and provide us with information about what you stand for and plan to do over the next four years.

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Between President Obama’s mention of Donald Trump being a small business (perhaps a jab at Trump and his birth certificate requesting ways) and Romney’s promise to create jobs and cut them at the same damn time, the first of the presidential debates left me…empty.

Although my heart pulsed with warmth when President Obama chose to open by acknowledging the FLOTUS and their 20th anniversary (of which Romney congratulated them too), both candidates ended up tap dancing around issues that sounded great on paper, you know–not raising taxes, Romney’s love of great schools and coal and providing healthcare.

Here are the reasons I think the first presidential debate just…sucked.

1. President Obama Was Way Too Cool

I get it. We elected a smooth brother into office four years ago. Like you, I swooned over his debonair look, sweet singing voice, supernova smile and beamed over his marriage to the first, First Lady to consistently bare her arms. However, at the debate, all of this needed to be temporarily forgotten. Cool can only get you so far. Mitt Romney showed up and showed out. He was passionate, even though he threw out a lot of untruths and contradicted himself. President Obama was a bit too confident, almost nonchalant. Many of us want our President re-elected, but if he doesn’t step his game up, we’ve got bigger problems than Romney’s affinity for going “brown.”

2. Big Bird Facing Unemployment

Romney plans on cutting spending if he wins the election and in order to make those cuts, he’ll test out programs with this question: “Is the program so critical it’s worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?” What does Romney plan on cutting other than Obamacare?:

“I like PBS, I love Big Bird. Actually like you, too. But I’m not going to — I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for. That’s number one.”

At this point, I swear I was on a trip down memory lane with former President Bush. What politician mentions Big Bird at a debate?

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3. What About The Women?

While the next two presidential debates focus on foreign and domestic policy, I’m left wondering…what about the women? I realize Obama loves the ladies, but when are he and Romney going to mention anything else except each other’s policies on taxation, energy and the economy? Domestic policy was the name of the game last night and that includes so many topics–business, education, energy, health care, law enforcement, money and taxes, natural resources, social welfare, personal rights and freedoms. A few of these topics lend themselves to at least talk about women, but neither candidate did. President Obama’s campaign says women will decide this election. If there’s any truth in that, both gentlemen may want to consider at least mentioning us next go ’round.

4. Jim Lehrer’s Lack Of Respect

I wish I would have played a drinking game around how many times Lehrer (and Romney) interrupted the President when it was his time to speak. I would have been drunk by the time they got to the topic of the economy. Lehrer seemed to favor Romney as he allowed the former governor to finish each and every point he wanted to make. Why did he keep reminding President Obama that he only had two minutes or five seconds left (while he interrupted him to say so). Lehrer perplexed me. When he wasn’t stepping on the President’s toes, it was almost like he didn’t want the two men to debate. Check out Bill Maher’s hilarious tweet:

5. Education, Taxes & Energy…SNOOZE!

Maybe it’s because I’m not knee-deep in politics on a daily, but did anyone learn anything from either candidate during the debate? While (and don’t get upset with me on this) I think Romney “won” the debate because he was assertive and drove his lackluster points home, even though he flip-flopped on everything he stood for. Let’s just call him Flip Romney, ha! President Obama was almost worse. He wouldn’t respond directly to Romney and when he did, he tripped over his words. One President Obama zinger that stood out was: “Is Romney keeping his plans secret because they’re too good?” Their final thoughts to sum up their stance in the debate:

President Obama:

But I also promised that I’d fight every single day on behalf of the American people, the middle class, and all those who were striving to get into the middle class. I’ve kept that promise and if you’ll vote for me, then I promise I’ll fight just as hard in a second term.

Mitt Romney:

And finally, military. The president’s reelected you’ll see dramatic cuts to our military. The secretary of defense has said these would be even devastating. I will not cut our commitment to our military. I will keep America strong and get America’s middle class working again.

All sounds good, but tell me exactly what you’re going to do to get us there so I know it’s real. What did you think about the first 2012 presidential debate? Let’s discuss on Twitter @HelloBeautiful!

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