Standing up to lying scoundrels was never your strong suit, Barry, and you hit a new low in the first debate, so it was a relief to see you kick butt when the Romneybot unleashed a fusillade of new lies in the second.

You said “What Governor Romney said just isn’t true” early on, when he lied about his reasons for opposing the bailout of the auto industry. You told him it was “offensive” to play politics regarding the death of four Americans at a diplomatic mission in Libya, and you said “Get the transcript” when he lied about what you said the day after the Americans were killed. You nailed him on his absurd claim that he could both install tax cuts and reduce the federal deficit.

Your best moment came when you articulated what’s at the rotten core of his plan to revitalize the economy:

Romney says he’s got a five-point plan. Governor Romney doesn’t have a five-point plan; he has a one-point plan. And that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules. That’s been his philosophy in the private sector; that’s been his philosophy as governor; that’s been his philosophy as a presidential candidate. You can make a lot of money and pay lower tax rates than somebody who makes a lot less. You can ship jobs overseas and get tax breaks for it. You can invest in a company, bankrupt it, lay off the workers, strip away their pensions, and you still make money.

Unfortunately for you and the rest of us, you revealed next to nothing about your plan. What about jobs, Mr. Cool? What about those millions of people who can’t find work and the millions who have jobs but aren’t making as much money as their parents did? What will you do to help generate good jobs in your second term that you didn’t do in your first? Be specific.

Only a wealthy person or an idiot would vote for a smug corporatist like Romney, but there are a lot of smart, decent people who were put off by your refusal in your first term to walk the walk when it came to fighting for the working class. You’ve got to do better on what Bush the Elder called the vision thing, and do better in a hurry, or the cold-blooded creep you lit into Tuesday night is going to win by default.