If you thought Barack Obama was an Aaron Sorkin debater, you don't know who Barack Obama actually is. From David Plouffe's book via The New York Times:
Mr. Obama was “not a strong debater,” as Mr. Plouffe put it in the book. He derided “the whole exercise of boiling down complex answers into thirty- or sixty-second sound bites.” So his staff was more than a little nervous when he went out to face Mrs. Clinton, one of the most formidable figures in the party. “This could be an unmitigated disaster,” Mr. Axelrod said after the candidate took the stage.
In the end, Mrs. Clinton did win, according to the pundits. Mr. Axelrod’s minimalist verdict? “Well, that could have been a lot worse.”
The president disdains bullshit debate "performance" contrivances. The left, which embraces intellectual honesty and authenticity, ought to embrace that with open arms.