Axelrod: Obama 'taken aback by the brazenness' of Romney's debate performance

Obama senior campaign adviser David Axelrod on Sunday said Republican Mitt Romney delivered a “very good performance” at the first presidential debate that was “completely un-rooted in fact” and the president was “taken aback at the brazenness” of the Republican nominee's answers.

CBS’s “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer kicked off the conversation “with the obvious question — what happened?”

“The president showed up with the intent of answering questions and having a discussion, an honest discussion of where we will go as a country, and Romney showed up to deliver a performance, and he delivered a very good performance,” Axelrod said. “It was completely un-rooted in fact, it was completely un-rooted in the positions he’s taken before and he spent 90 minutes trying to undo two years of campaigning on that stage, but he did it very well.”

Schieffer followed up by asking if he was saying Romney “lied or was dishonest?”

“Well, yeah, I think he was dishonest,” Axelrod said.

“I’m saying he was dishonest in his answers, you can characterize that any way you want,” Axelrod later added.

Axelrod also addressed President Barack Obama’s performance, saying the president is his own harshest critic and “I think you can assume he’s reviewed the tape and it will inform how he handles the subsequent debates.”

As for why Obama did not address Romney’s “47 percent” comments at the debate, Axelrod said “the president obviously didn’t see the appropriate opportunity.”

“The president was earnestly trying to answer questions that were asked on the topics that were being discussed, and he didn’t find the opportunity to raise it, and it’s obviously well known,” Axelrod said.

Obama, Axelrod said, “was a little taken aback by the brazenness with which Gov. Romney walked away” from his past positions and his record.

“That’s something we’re going to have to make an adjustment for in these subsequent debates,” Axelrod said.