As I watched the debate Tuesday night, I was suddenly struck by an overriding impression: President Reagan was a bad actor, but a great president while President Obama is a great actor, but a bad president.

It is incredible how adept President Obama is at misdirection, avoidance, and mischaracterization. Yet, the media and the American people seem to be proud to allow him to get away with it. They want to believe what he says rather than what he does.

President Reagan and Gov. Romney did/do not appear to want to fool anyone; they are genuinely the “real thing.”

Harvey Gillis, Bellevue