Obama plays catch-up after lethargic debate

President Barack Obama spent Thursday firing off the lines he missed in his debate with Mitt Romney, clawing at his Republican foe in a bid to deprive him of a well earned polling boost.

Obama pounded out attacks at big rallies in Colorado and Wisconsin and was energetic, combative and concise, the opposite of the subdued and long-winded candidate outpointed by Romney on Thursday morning.

The president beseeched voters not to be duped by the suave debater seen by 67 million television viewers, but to focus on the “real Mitt Romney” who he said promised tax cuts for the rich and cared little for teachers.

“If you want to be president, you owe the American people the truth,” a fired-up Obama told supporters anxious not to see him fritter away his opinion poll lead with less than five weeks to go before election day.

But Obama aides admitted that they needed to have a “hard look” at their strategy before the next debate on October 16, after Romney used the first of a trio of head-to-head clashes to breathe fresh life into a sagging campaign.

Romney celebrated his debate coup with a surprise visit to a conservative conference in the Colorado city of Denver, and warned Obama’s economic policies would take America down a slippery slope to the fate of debt-laden Europe.