Chris Matthews: 'Where was Obama tonight?'

An angry Chris Matthews derided President Barack Obama's performance Wednesday night following the first debate between Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.

"I know [Obama] likes to say he doesn't watch cable television, but maybe he should start," Matthews said on MSNBC's post-debate coverage. "I don't know how he let Romney get away with the crap he threw out tonight about social security. Listen to the stuff he got away with ... the latest we got from Romney on the emergency room was, 'You know what I wanna do to people who get sick? Shove them in the emergency room.' Why didn't Obama say that? Why didn't he say that, 'You talk about Social Security and Medicare people, they're part of your 47 percent. You want to drop them from the list of eligible Americans. You don't have any care for these people. What are you talking about? We've got it on tape, governor. We've got it on tape, what you think of these people. Don't come out here and pretend you care about old people because you met somebody at some campaign event."

Matthews said Obama looked like he was "enduring" the debate, while Romney went in with a plan to "enjoy the evening," regardless of what he was saying.

"Where was Obama tonight?" he asked co-host Rachel Maddow. "He should watch ... well not just Hardball, Rachel, he should watch you, he should watch the Rev. Al [Sharpton], he should watch Lawrence [O'Donnell]. He would learn something about this debate."

Video of Matthew's criticism of the president's performance, aired Wednesday night, can be seen below.

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