Obama did not just lose; it is becoming increasingly clear that he was defeated like no president since George H.W. Bush, if not Jimmy Carter. The image they built up about Romney, telling everybody for months that Romney is some kind of risky monster--well, that image was destroyed once and for all (it was merely a figment of Democrats' wild imaginations). As a result, Team Obama has ZERO credibility with Independents now. These Independents were expecting to see Donald Trump versus "Hope and Change." Instead, they saw Reagan Vs. Carter set in 2012. They are startled that they were fooled so badly by Obama's Hype Machine.
To summarize: One, Independents will not be fooled again. Most of them are pretty much lost to Romney moving forward. Two, I do not see how Democrats can get as fired up as Republicans are right now, especially when you consider that there are only four weeks to go. I mean, it's not like Obama's pro-gay marriage plank would legalize gay marriage across the nation, and there's really nothing else there to fire up Democrats moving forward (And Biden killed that momentum tactic back in May). Three, I have never seen Republicans so fired up before, 1980/1984/1994/2004/2010 included.
Bottomline: In the next debate, Obama needs to somehow match or surpass what Romney accomplished in the first debate. He needs THE performance of his entire career. If he fails to do this, the question on everybody's mind will start becoming "how badly will Obama lose?" not "can Obama bounce back?"
So where is Romney's big bounce? Why hasn't he taken the lead yet?