President Barrack Obama was not the only one to receive heavy criticism for his dull and uninspiring performance, moderator Jim Lehrer is also being subjected to tons of criticism for his role as mediator.
The Huffington Post puts it succinctly while saying, "it was Lehrer's 12th time moderating, but he was largely unsuccessful in his attempts to corral the candidates. Both President Obama and Mitt Romney rolled right over him as, with increasing plaintiveness, he tried to get them to stop talking."
The PBS host was quick to defend himself, he told USA Today, "I thought the format accomplished its purpose, which was to facilitate direct, extended exchanges between the candidates about issues of substance. Part of my moderator mission was to stay out of the way of the flow and I had no problems with doing so. My only real personal frustration was discovering that ninety minutes was not enough time in that more open format to cover every issue that deserved attention."
Meanwhile many public figures voiced their opinion about the 78-year-old's performance at the first Presidential Debate of 2012. Democratic activist and comedian Bill Maher took to Twitter and said "my rating: Romney won the debate, Obama had the facts on his side, and Lehrer sucked. Next debate, get @sethmacfarlan to host!" as posted on his Twitter Page @billmaher.
Other late night comedy hosts such as Connan O'Brian, Jay Leno and David Letterman all poked fun at the PBS host.
Let's hope the next moderator, Martha Raddatz, a foreign correspondent on ABC News does a better job. This will be the first presidential debate in 20 years in which a woman will be a moderator.
The next debate will be between the VP candidates - Paul Ryan and Joe Biden. It will take place on October 11 at the Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. It will be divided into nine segments of 10 minutes each. The same rule applies as the presidential debate in respect to the topic and time given to each candidate.
View Full Schedule Here.
