I was able to watch the debate tonight live, and both candidates performed well, and both came across as informed and competent. But since competence is Ms. Clinton’s keystone, a confidence tie means the edge in this one goes to Obama on that score. Add to that a couple of ridiculous, almost sophomoric moments from Ms. Clinton — the first one her unbelievable plaint about supposedly always being asked the first question (the press is picking on me, poor me, poor me … and by the way, doesn’t being asked about specific area first give you the ability to exert some control over the subject matter area; how is that a bad thing?), the second being her lame attempt to imply that Barack Obama didn’t sufficiently disown Louis Farrakan’s expression of support for him (which allowed Obama to very, very, very, deliciously and subtly remind the electorate of the grindingly painful word-parsing of Big Bloated Bill’s administration; denounce, renounce, reject, I’m supposed to not vote for him over some narrow language difference?). Hillary never really lost her cool in a major way, but she did hog time throughout the debate, and Barack Obama is so very calm, so very cool, that she seemed much more over the top than she actually was. Obama also nicely turned the question about his toughness in a race against John McCain around by reminding everyone that polls show that he, not she, would win a match up with McCain.
All in all, nicely done by both, except for Ms. Clinton’s few slips. But every debate that Obama matches Ms. Clinton is a win for him. And so this one was as well.
Categories: Blogging, Politics
Tags: "barack obama", "hillary clinton, debate, election