I think there can be no question that the real Barack Obama stood up in Tuesday night's debate. If anyone thinks he didn't present a fierce argument for why he should be elected, I suggest watching the whole thing again. But in this particular segment, Barack Obama came out blazing with reasons why voters should think carefully about who they'll mark as their choice in the Presidential race. In the process, he gave Mitt Romney a whole new name.

But you should pay attention to this campaign because Governor Romney has made some commitments as well, and I suspect he will keep those, too. When members of the Republican Congress say we’re going to sign a no tax pledge so that we don’t ask a dime from millionaires and billionaires to reduce our deficit so we can still invest in education and helping kids go to college, he said me too. When they said we’re going to cut Planned Parenthood funding, he said me too. When he said we’re going to repeal Obamacare, firsts thing I’m going to de, do spite the fact that it’s the same health care plan that he passed in Massachusetts and is working well, he said me too. That is not the kind of leadership you need but you should expect that those are promises he is going to keep, and the choice in this election is going to be whose promises are going to be more likely to help you in your life make sure your kids can go to college, make sure that you are getting a good paying job, making sure that Medicare and Social Security will be there for you.

Later in the debate, Mitt Romney was asked about the differences he might have with George W. Bush. His answer was vague and mushy, but the president's wasn't. Here's how he summed it up:

...the last point I want to make is this -- there are some things where Governor Romney is different from George Bush. George Bush didn’t propose turning Medicare into a voucher, George Bush embraced comprehensive immigration reform, he didn’t call for self-deportation, George Bush never suggested that we eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, so there are differences between Governor Romney and George Bush, but they’re not on economic policy. In some ways he has gone to a more extreme place when it comes to social policy, and I think that’s a mistake. That’s not how we’re going to move our economy forward.

[h/t to the magnificent Heather, yet again]

Yea verily, moderate Republicans (if any still exist), wept, while happy Democrats danced in the street.