I think Chait captures a lot of the “liberal debate hysteria” story, but not all of it. To a large extent, the problem was one of meeting expectations. Romney is an acknowledged debater of some skill, and he certainly has had a lot of experience doing them at this level. His performance was “as expected,” perhaps a little better. Obama’s performance was far worse than expected, so that was the story. (Romney’s lies were, sadly, also quite expected, and thus not a story, which is a statement in and of itself.) It would be one thing if only Obama had been uninspired and low-energy. But he wasn’t, the debate was also a strategic catastrophe that allowed Romney to change his image drastically with minimal pushback. That OFA didn’t hit back the day after the debate on Romney’s evasions was a sadly missed opportunity that allowed the president’s loss unlimited room to become a durable major story. Had Obama aggressively pushed back against Romney’s evasions even with the same demeanor and energy level, the fallout would have been minimal, perhaps even nonexistent. Perhaps not aiming for a tie would have been advisable. And until Democratic pols realize that what liberals say they want (i.e. sober discussion of the issues) doesn’t entirely match with what really makes them act (optimism, tenacity, hope, even bombast), this sort of thing will keep happening. What they really want is this:

Which Obama is never going to give you, naturally. But that’s the wish fulfillment fantasy.

Anyway, I’ll undoubtedly be darkening your door with some form of post-debate analysis. I fully expect Obama to be solid in a town hall setting, and now that he has Something To Prove* I’m sure he’ll show up to play. And I wouldn’t count on Romney being flawless either–followers of the primaries no doubt remember how Romney got cocky every time he started to win, and promptly came up with enough gaffes and PR disasters to let Gingrich or Santorum back into the game. I don’t think he’s changed. We’ll find out.

* Which is a silly conceit, but that does seem to be the consensus view going in.