Add CNN’s James Carville to the list of Democrats questioning President Barack Obama’s performance against Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Wednesday.

In CNN’s wrap-up of its debate coverage, Carville, a campaign adviser to former President Bill Clinton, gave Obama’s campaign high marks but added that Obama probably didn’t go by the playbook his campaign wanted him to.

“Let’s be real,” Carville said. “They have run a very good campaign thus far. I don’t think that President Obama did what this campaign wanted him to do. I think he was off his game tonight. But let’s don’t go overboard here. It will be like a big sort of pushback. … My point is this — President Obama came in, he wanted to have a conversation. It takes two people to have a conversation. Mitt Romney came in with a chainsaw. He’s trying to talk to a chainsaw.”

Follow Jeff on Twitter