- 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 didn't engage in enough debate prep
- Finally, the president doesn't take criticism well, and that hurt him, Yellin says
Editor's note: Jessica Yellin is CNN's chief White House correspondent, based in the network's Washington bureau. She was named to the position in June 2011. Yellin contributes to CNN's America's Choice 2012 election coverage, reporting on President Barack Obama's administration and his re-election campaign.
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 don'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 didn't challenge what his campaign is now labels Romney "distortions." It let him stay the nice guy, but isn't there a saying about the nice guy and where he finishes?
2. Misjudging the room: They decided this wasn'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.
Debate: Jobs fact check 3. Not enough prep: The president held more strategy sessions about the debate than actual mock debates. His debate boot camp turned into a cram session full of facts, figures and data rather than streamlined messaging. 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.
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. Doesn't take criticism well: It's no secret Obama is a confident man. He wouldn'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 was allowed to stay for the critique of the president's performance after the mock debates. Others were asked to leave. Even then, it didn'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.
Day after: Obama accuses Romney of dishonesty in debate
Analysis: Romney seizes the story
Five things we learned from the first debate
President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney finish their debate in Denver on Wednesday, October 3. 
Romney stands with his wife, Ann, and family following the first presidential debate. 
President Obama kisses first lady Michelle Obama after the debate Wednesday. It took place on their 20th wedding anniversary. 
Jim Leher of PBS moderates the 90-minute debate on Wednesday. It was the candidates' first time debating face to face. 
Obama defended his record and challenged his rival's proposals. 
Romney was more aggressive Wednesday in criticizing Obama's vision. 
People watch the debate at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, New York. 
The event was expected to draw the candidates' largest nationwide audience to date. 
Romney answers a question from the moderator. 
Obama argues his view. Both candidates said the other's proposals won't work. 
Michelle Obama listens to the debate. 
Romney said Obama has failed to bring down high unemployment and get the economy surging again. 
Obama reacts to Romney's remarks on Wednesday. 
Obama listens during the debate in Denver. 
Romney, who has been unable to catch the president in most polls to date, sought to generate enthusiasm for a change in the White House. 
Romney's shadow is projected beneath text from the Declaration of Independence at the University of Denver's Magness Arena. 
The first of three presidential debates focused on domestic issues: the economy, health care and the role of government. 
Obama and Mitt Romney clashed over the economy on Wednesday. 
Romney speaks during Wednesday night's debate. The candidate called for a new economic path. 
Obama called for "economic patriotism" and said Romney's plan of tax cuts for the rich failed before. 
Romney and Obama wave to the crowd at the start of the presidential debate. 
Obama greets Romney on Wednesday. 
The candidates meet on stage less than five weeks before Election Day. 
Obama and Romney shake hands Wednesday night. 
The presidential race has been dominated so far by negative advertising as both camps try to frame the election to their advantage. 
Leher takes the stage Wednesday. It's his 12th time moderating a presidential debate. 
Michelle Obama points to Lehrer before the start of the debate. 
Ann Romney and first lady Michelle Obama hug on Wednesday. 
The candidates wives were in attendance for the most highly anticipated campaign event to date. 
Michelle Obama sits with White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, right. 
Rapper Will.i.am, left, speaks with Jarrett before the debate on Wednesday. 
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