Shell-shocked by Governor Romney’s terrific debate performance, especially juxtaposed to President Obama’s lackadaisical performance in front of a television audience of  about 67.5 million, team Obama is flailing around whining and pointing fingers of blame at each other.

Failing to convince any fair-minded person that Obama lost the debate because, as the Obama campaign continues to falsely claim, Romney lied; that the mile high altitude, which didn’t bother Obama during his TelePrompted infamous Greek Column speech, was the reason for Obama’s drubbing; or that it was because of something the moderator, Jim Lehrer, did or didn’t do — the Obama team has moved to blaming each other.

At Breitbart, Alexander Marlow reports that Obama’s team is so distraught over Obama’s debate shellacking they are throwing Senator John Kerry under the bus. They blame Secretary of State wannabe Kerry for being too diplomatic while playing Romney during Obama’s debate practice.

Marlow quotes Norah O’Donnell and Bill Plante from CBS’s “This Morning”:

Norah O’Donnell: “Some Democrats say [Obama’s] campaign needs a wake-up call.  Bill Plante is here with that part of the story.  Bill, you’ve been talking to your sources; what are they saying?

Correspondent Bill Plante: “Well Norah, they’re simply upset and really outraged. They blame the President’s team, first of all, for not preparing him to meet the challenge of an aggressive Mitt Romney. They say that nobody in the room challenged him, including the guy that he was debating with, John Kerry, because, as they say, he wants to be Secretary of State so he’s not going to get in the President’s face. And Presidents are used to deference; they’re not used to people challenging them like that. So they think that the debate prep was terrible, but they also fault the President himself for not understanding that Romney was going to be more aggressive.”

It is peculiar to see the Obama campaign blaming John Kerry for Romney cleaning Obama’s debate clock, especially in light of the fact the President’s deputy campaign manager and sometimes spokesperson, Stephanie Cutter, was communications director for  Kerry’s failed presidential campaign when it melted down in 2004. I remember article after article blaming Cutter for the Kerry’s loss. Is team Obama pointing the finger at the wrong person to be the next victim under the Obama bus.?

At The Daily Beast, James Warren quotes William Daley as admitting that Romney’s “extremely good night” is a “big advantage.” Warren also credits Obama campaign aides with using the term ‘shell-shocked’  to describe the Obama campaign’s reaction to the debate:

At least two current Obama campaign aides were more blunt than Daley and used the term “shell-shocked” over the Obama performance. There were various analyses of what went wrong, including finger-pointing at debate preparations. Those included claims that Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who played the role of Romney in mock debates, probably wasn’t tough and aggressive enough. (“He does, after all, want to be Secretary of State,” claimed one aide.)

So much for the formerly much ballyhooed nonchalant and diffident “No Drama Obama.” I guess that was too much of what was obviously incorrectly perceived to be a good thing.

Meanwhile, in an effort to recover ground lost by Romney’s debate take down of Obama, Senior Strategist for Obama’s re-election campaign, David Axelrod, is taking over the debate preparation for Vice President Biden for the debate this Thursday with Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan. Axelrod’s takeover is already raising expectations for a great debate performance from Biden who wasn’t able to win the 2008 vice presidential debate Sarah Palin.