This is so three days ago...but the debate on Monday night.Traveling, I caught only the last half hour on Monday. The sparring candidates looked like they might come to blows. I found it depressing...two grown men, etc. (that has now spawned an alpha male trope [not accurate, more like fourth grade boys revving up for a playground fight]).Returning home yesterday, I watched the whole debate on our DVR. The sparring didn't loom so large when the previous 60 minutes were so vigorous and adversarial (Obama doing the Biden smile trick with his teeth ended up looking like the Cheshire Cat; while Romney posed as "father knows best"). But really, Romney is truly annoying, the superior air, the know-it-all facial expression. He avoided the Bush comparison question, though his frequent self-reference to being a problem-solver reminded me of Bush the "decider." Those are just my fourth grade girl observations. What do you adults have to say?

Margaret O’Brien Steinfels is a former editor of Commonweal. 

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