I watched the debate tonight. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but: I think Clinton definitely had the better evening. Obama seemed off his game. The questions were appalling — Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous both seemed to be channeling Tim Russert, and they brought up every possible scandal that has been raised against Obama. Including the flag pin thing! Are you kidding me?
Nothing about Mark Penn or his Colombia trade deal. But questions about Wright, and some Weatherman guy.
But Obama didn’t respond well to the questions at all. He sounded halting and hesitant and defensive when he spoke.
Clinton, meanwhile, seemed polished and prepared and seemed to know her stuff. If this were the only debate I’d seen, and I were voting in the Pennsylvania primary, I might vote for her.
Not that she has a chance of getting the nomination anymore, but she might very well be a better candidate against McCain than Obama would be. She’d certainly be better than either John Kerry or Al Gore at going on the offensive and standing up for herself.
Obama sometimes seems to be morphing into Adlai Stevenson before our eyes. We might get killed again this fall with him as the nominee.
Obama works under the assumption that people are smart. Case in point: his wonderful speech on race last month.
Clinton, on the other hand, works under the assumption that people are dumb and need things explained to them in simple terms.
Unfortunately, I think most people are dumb.
I don’t necessarily mean that as a knock against Clinton. It’s just the way things seem to be.
It was a debate. Probably one percent of the US watched it. Obama had one bad night. Nobody will remember this in a week.
[Actually, Homer, it was the second-highest-rated network broadcast last night. It had the highest ratings from 8-9 pm and was behind “American Idol” from 9-10 pm. But maybe the rest of your point is true. -Jeff]
This is what disappoints me about Obama. When he’s prepared, he is “The speaker.” When he’s going off the cuff, he doesn’t handle himself well. Say what you want about Clinton, but she does direct the conversation where SHE wants it to go. All those years of dealing with that Vast Right Wing (I almost typed White Ring)Conspiracy.
If he can develop this skill and not look caught, he’ll have come a long way. We know he can speak, we know McCain looks like a spastic old elephant (literally) whether he’s speechifying or debating, but he’s going to have to remove the stumbling responses from his repertoire ASAP.
That said, that debate was shit. What the fucking fuck. Why did they fail to bring up JUST ONCE how Bush had literally AUTHORIZED IN WRITING torture?
Ah, finally, we’re reaching the heart of the problem: The vast majority of Americans are, yes, stupid. (Dear America: If the truth hurts, change it; go get yourselves educated.)
I admit, I was wrong. Only 1/3 of one percent watched the debate (10 million people). And it beat out CBS’s Big Brother show….
[Actually, isn’t that more like 3 percent? -Jeff]