It may be somewhat late to comment on the presidential debate that was held on Wednesday, but let’s say what happened there was so shocking that it took some time to gather my “Mittens” -- whatever that means. At the outset, watching President Obama at the end of the debate, I was reminded of the scene in the movie “Ten Commandments” when an awe-struck Ramesses II, played by Yul Brynner, returns to his palace after witnessing the Jewish God part the Red Sea to let his people through and the attacking Egyptian forces drown, collapses on his throne and declares, “Their God is God.” A similarly dumbstruck Obama appeared as if he had conceded that Mitt Romney’s Mormon God is God, and that there was precious little he could do to change the course of the debate. To stretch the biblical metaphor, Romney seemed to morph into Lazarus, as he virtually rose from the electoral dead.

The embattled Republican nominee, who all by himself ruined his chances of mounting a successful campaign over the past several months,with repeated and incredible gaffes, was nearly left for dead last week when the now-infamous “47 percent" video surfaced in which he said things that no one seeking elected office should be caught dead uttering. That video sounded like the last nail in the coffin of his campaign, which began inauspiciously months ago in Iowa when he said “Corporations are people, my friend.” I’m not saying these things are not entirely true or untrue. It’s just that in a political context they can’t be said out loud in the presence of any living organism.

But on the debate night, Romney came across as someone who couldn’t have made all those boo-boos. In fact, he didn’t look like a heartless rich guy that the Obama campaign managed to portray him on the campaign trail as the non-Fox media gleefully cheered on. If anything, Romney convincingly presented himself as an affable and engaging professional who had crisp answers to charges against him and well-crafted policy positions that are eminently defensible. If nothing else, Romney certainly earned a few points on the likeability question that has dogged him from the outset. It is anybody’s guess if his performance will translate into votes in the battleground states, but he certainly earned a second look.

On a substantive and strategic level, the debate may have changed, if only subtly, the narrative of the presidential campaign – that Romney doesn’t have what it takes to unseat a personally popular incumbent who,notwithstanding his not-so-stellar record, is seen as someone who is on the side of ordinary people who are hurting. Romney also helped himself by looking better than the charismatic president. He looked rested, relaxed and energized and even younger than Obama, who looked haggard, distracted and detached. I don’t know if anyone else noticed or it I’m just imagining it, but I felt Romney even modulated his voice to sound Reagan-like, particularly during his opening and closing statements.