They didn’t seem to feel people’s pain; they mostly tried to wound each other. At their town hall debate on Tuesday night at Hofstra University, President Obama and Mitt Romney circled around each other like tomcats in an alley, at one point doing a little dance of dominance as they clashed over energy policy.

But Mr. Obama kept his eyes on his Republican opponent, whereas Mr. Romney’s gaze kept straying over to the moderator, Candy Crowley of CNN, peevishly calling on her to give him more time and reverting to type as a man as passionate about rules and procedure as policy. He even asked her to intercede by calling her name three times, “Candy, Candy, Candy,” a recall of a much-mocked moment in a Republican primary debate when he repeatedly asked Anderson Cooper of CNN to referee a dispute.

Debate results aren’t just subjective, they are subject to the binary swing of expectations. This time Obama had only to improve on his first belly flop, and that set Mr. Romney up to fall short.