Whether it was the Hillary smirk, the Edwards magnanimous positions, or the Obama defensive rhetoric, this debate was contentious and a personal battle between Clinton and Obama throughout.
It started out with a question on the economy and President Bush's stimulus plan to fix it. Clinton started by rattling off her 5 year interest rate freeze, a 90 day fore-closure moratorium, and $650 for people to pay energy bills.
It quickly went downhill from there with Hillary attacking Obama on his voting present over 120 times when he was in the Illinois state senate and not actually taking a position. She received a resounding "Boo" from the audience so this did not go over well.
Obama responded with how both Clinton's had distorted his record. As the heated exchange followed, Obama came up with one of the better lines of the evening when he said he did not know which Clinton he was running against.
Clinton even brought up the Obama comment about the Reagan administration being one of ideas which everyone knew she would bring up. At one point there was an exchange between Obama and Clinton on who they represented as lawyers years ago with Clinton accusing Obama with representing a slum lord and Obama pointing out that Clinton had been a corporate lawyer for Wal Mart.
Edwards came up with a good statement about how all this squabbling was not going to help anyone and that they needed to concentrate on the issues.
Clinton continues to talk about how she is used to taking incoming fire from Republicans so she can take it from Obama. She doesn't seem to get it that the American people are tired of the rancor and gridlock in Washington and do not want more of the same.
When asked if Dr. Martin Luther King was alive today, why would he endorse you? Edwards spoke of his war on poverty and Clinton about embracing his beliefs. Obama said he probaby would not endorse any of us for he believed change came from the bottom up and not the top down. He also spoke on the need for accountability of elected officials.
The mainstream media will have fun with this debate for the sound bites are numerous. Edwards did well as a result of the Clinton and Obama spat. Obama appeared to have won in the battle with Clinton. The voters will ultimately decide who won when S. Carolina holds their primary on Saturday.
Monday, January 21, 2008
The Rumble in Myrtle Beach
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5 comments:
"A corporate lawyer sitting on the Board of Wal-Mart," may be the line that changes directions. For the record, I would've booed Senator Clinton too. And I would heartedly boo President Clinton at this point. They may win the nomination, but they're splitting the party to do so.
I do not think that Obama won the debate, nor do I feel like Clinton won. I do feel like the questions thrown out to them by the panelists were meant/designed to cause friction, and they did just that. And in a lot of ways I enjoyed the sparring. We need to see them perform under pressure and see how they handle it. And however the nominee may be can certainly expect the Republicans to pile it on in the campaign for the general election.
And it is no secret that Clinton was on the Wal-Mart board. Wal-Mart and Arkansas kind of go together. With her history on issues affecting children and families she may have been a good influence on that board. So why would it be a negative? Also everyone keeps poking fun at her 35 years of experience. Her sitting on the Wal-Mart board is "experience" one way or the other. She was a working first lady of Arkansas. And she was right about having 16 years of experience dealing with Republican critism. The fact that the Clintons survived Kenneth Starr's years of attack should say something about her ability to handle pressure.
Whether a person can withstand an attack or not should not be a factor in this primary. We have a golden opportunity to win. And we need to ask ourselves, which is the leader that can fundamentally reshape the country?
In my view, that is not Hillary Clinton. 40% of the country says they're extremely motivated to vote by her candidacy--extremely motivated to vote against her. 52% of the country says they won't vote for her under any circumstances. She loses by 11 percent in trail heats with John McCain.
While Obama runs well with Republicans (47% say they'd consider voting for him) and in rural areas, which brought him the tie result in Nevada and the Iowa win.
The primary has shown thatClinton will continue the shallow bickering of the past. Our party is split down the middle on old divides to satiate Bill's ego and Hillary's ambition. She probably can't win because people are looking for honesty and authenticity--something John McCain, no matter how wrong he is on the issues, has.
I will support what ever Democrat wins the nomination. I just do not get Democrats that say they would vote Republican before they would vote for Clinton. Now that is scary to me. McCain seems like a nice enough man just like Bob Dole was a nice man. But I didn't vote Dole and I will not vote for McCain. Being a gay male I believe we have a lot better chance of seing substantive gains for gay rights under Clinton than we do under Edwards or Obama. I am not a single issue voter but after listening to all the viable candidates speak at the Human Rights Forum debate I believe my equality has a better chance with Hillary than John or Barack. Yet when all is said and done I will support the Democratic nominee, whoever she or he may be.
Democrats voting Republican before they vote for Clinton is a direct consequence of Clinton's scorched earth campaign. It's left a lot of people bitter. And it reminds them that there wasn't much difference between the Republicans and Democrats when a Clinton was President (see: NAFTA, don't ask don't tell, Defense of Marriage Act, "era of big government is over," welfare reform, and the like).
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