It’s the thin air, stupid! President Obama’s sullen, rambling performance at last Wednesday’s debate wasn’t his fault; the explanation proffered by Al Gore on his Current TV network was, well, simply dizzying. Forget that the President was ill-prepared; forget the glowering stare at his own podium. Dammit, Denver is the Mile High City, and the lack of oxygen at that altitude is enough to make the best of us unsteady. Romney? That dirty cheater showed up a couple of days earlier and adjusted.

Time has not been kind to the former Vice President, whose demeanor and appearance increasingly channels Jabba the Hutt. Yet it could be worse. The fact Mr. Gore was a hairsbreadth away from being the leader of the free world should make us all a little lightheaded.