Denver ( CNN ) -- President Barack Obama turned in a less-than-stellar performance Wednesday night in his first debate this election season . On Thursday , his campaign aides said former Massachusetts Gov . Mitt Romney came armed with distortions . But if the president believed that , he barely brought them to the viewers ' attention during the debate . Instead , he turned in a distracted , passionless performance . Here are five reasons he fumbled : . 1 . His nice-guy image : The Obama team believes the president 's biggest asset is his likability . They want him to preserve that at all costs . They 're convinced undecided voters do n't want to see him engaged in verbal combat -- so he rose above it . That meant he passed on openings to attack Romney . He also missed openings to defend his own record and did n't challenge what his campaign now labels Romney `` distortions . '' It let him stay the nice guy , but is n't there a saying about the nice guy and where he finishes ? 2 . Misjudging the room : They decided this was n't about the debate . Instead , it was an opportunity , like the speech at the Democratic National Convention , to speak directly `` to voters at home , not the people in the room . '' Viewers saw that tactic a few times when the president looked directly into the camera to deliver his message . But a debate is about engaging with at least two people in the room -- the opponent ( Romney ) and the moderator ( Jim Lehrer ) . By reaching beyond them ( and at one point snapping at Lehrer ) , the president seemed disengaged and disinterested -- and no doubt that matters to the people watching at home . 3 . Not enough prep : The president held more strategy sessions about the debate than actual mock debates . It 's no doubt harder to find the time to prep when you 're a sitting president and not a candidate , but to get rehired , he needs to find the time . Known for his gift with words , the president is , according to sources , challenging to coach . He believes he 's his own best critic and that he knows what to say and how to say it . 4 . Incumbency syndrome : Did you get the sense the president did not want to be on that stage , that other things were on his mind ? He appeared impatient with the experience , not unlike other incumbent presidents , including George W. Bush 2004 . It read almost as if the president is dealing with too many other domestic and global issues to stand there and volley about campaign promises when he has -- in the mind of the incumbent -- more pressing matters . He seemed to have a bad case of it Wednesday night . 5 . Does n't take criticism well : It 's no secret Obama is a confident man . He would n't have a lot of patience for advisers talking about how to score style points . But as Al Gore 's sighing debate performance in 2000 proved how a candidate looks when he 's not speaking can be as important as what he says . Sources tell CNN that during debate prep , only the president 's inner circle stayed for the critique of the president 's performance after the mock debates . Even then , it did n't seem to make enough headway to calm the president 's impatience with this process . Maybe next time , they 'll show the president tape of his downward gaze and grimacing during Romney 's answers -- and let him provide his own self-criticism before he shows up in Hempstead , New York , for the second debate at Hofstra University . Three things we know about the president : He 's fiercely competitive , hates losing and he is disciplined . After last night 's experience , he will no doubt adjust and come in ready with a different performance for round two . But he has to avoid the problem Al Gore faced in 2000 . Gore was too passive in one debate so he overcorrected and came off as too aggressive in another -- missing the mark both times . Day after : Obama accuses Romney of dishonesty in debate . Can Obama recover , or will Romney step it up ? Analysis : Romney seizes the story . Five things we learned from the first debate .
CNN 's Jessica Yellin analyzes President Barack Obama 's debate performance . Obama 's team had him cling too hard to his nice-guy image , Yellin observes . Yellin also points out the president did n't engage in enough debate prep . Finally , the president does n't take criticism well , and that hurt him , Yellin says .