Month: January 2008

Time is running out, unless he wants to be a macher at a brokered convention.

A nice point:

I think Clinton’s goal tonight was to essentially humble herself before the Democratic Party that rebuked her so profoundly in South Carolina. Substance and niceness and graciousness were the order of the day. By her own standards she succeeded. She still doesn’t have a good answer to the dynasty question. I hear it a lot from voters on the trail. “We are all judged on our own merits” is a tautology.

Not her first.

He scores it a narrow win for Obama.

It was, I think, his best debate in the campaign so far. The one-on-one format elevated him instantly and he commanded the stage and the occasion. Hillary Clinton did not do poorly. All her strengths were on show: the policy mastery, the gaffe-free talking points, the Clinton record in the 1990s. But that made his mastery all the more impressive. The good natured sparring helped him. He neutralized her on healthcare and simply cleaned up on the war in Iraq. But most crucial: he seemed like a president. He was already battling McCain. She was still pivoting off Bush. In his body language, he carefully upstaged her, without looking as if he were trying. By the end of the debate, he was pulling her chair back for her.

I’d say that he won the primary election tonight. She is still a formidable candidate and her massive institutional advantage may eventually give her the nomination. But she hasn’t won this primary argument or this primary battle. If she becomes the nominee, it will be because she survived the primaries. He won them.

You know my bias. It’s on my sleeve. But I’ve criticized Obama’s performances in the past and couldn’t find a flaw tonight. A good closer, as I’ve been told for over a year now. You can say that again.

(Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty.)

9.46 pm. Obama, if I heard him right, just took on Hollywood in the belly of the beast.

9.40 pm. "Right on Day One." Bulls-eye. He’s pulling ahead, it seems to me.

9.30 pm. Clinton says that a Democratic president will need "gravitas" to win the argument on Iraq. But the strange effect of this one-on-one debate is actually to elevate him to a level of authority that Clinton’s long career in the public eye has bestowed on her. Gravitas? He’s got it. Judgment? The record on Iraq speaks for itself.

9.24 pm. Objectively, Obama wiped the floor with her. And throughout this debate, he keeps bringing up McCain, advertising his own ability to tackle him. Particularly acute in speaking of "clarity" and in being a Democrat least vulnerable in withdrawing troops from Iraq. This was the clearest policy difference and Obama made the most of it.

9.15 pm. She says that everyone should be judged on their own merits and then launches into a recitation of the achievements of her husband’s previous administration and then claims that it takes a Clinton to clean up after a Bush. Awful answer. But what answer can she give? She has plenty of talent to make it on her own, but she chose to gain power with the assistance of nepotism. And she wants it every which way again. Ugh.

9.13 pm. Oddly, the civility seems to be working for Obama – and he certainly doesn’t seem to feel he needs to knock Clinton off a front-runner porch. They’re both acting as if they are in the lead.

9.10 pm. Clinton just played the gender card front and center, as an argument for "change". She keeps having it every which way on identity politics. Which is to say: she’ll say anything that works to her advantage from moment to moment. Worth knowing. Obama has more restraint. (And did she really feel the need to cite Kerry, Bobby and Kathleen?)

9.08 pm. Obama on Romney: funny and brutal. He’s good on offense. The JFK analogy works because he really does have some wit.

9.04 pm. On the "Ready On Day One" question, Obama’s response was sharp, even funny. She bored on about herself. But maybe I’m a hopeless audience for her. She just seems smug to me.

8.55 pm. "For so many years I have stood with farm-workers." Oy. Clinton looks as if she realizes she lost ground with Hispanics in the immigration first round. A reader emails:

She sounds like she’s running for HHS secretary, not president.

That’s about right. Obama begins to seem like the authoritative figure here. Calmer. Clearer.

8.45 pm. Interesting exchange on immigration. Obama defends illegal immigrants and says they are scapegoated. Clinton is more circumspect. Probably not a good idea to say that she opposes mass deportation as not "practical." This round goes to Obama – because he’s not in a defensive crouch on the issue.

8.40 pm. Nice Obama push-back on the tax-and-spend critique. And a sign that he can widen the wedge between McCain’s past record against Bush’s tax cuts and McCain’s current position. Clinton will never be able to exploit internal Republican divisions. Because the prospect of a third Clinton term immediately abolishes them.

8.35 pm. It’s a pretty even debate. Which helps the Clintons. Obama is much better in a set speech. Her command of policy detail comes through. And, so far, she hasn’t been too grating.

8.30 pm. They are not disabusing me of the notion that discussing the details of healthcare policy is really boring.

8.22 pm. A nice touch from Obama in accepting Clinton’s description of their policy differences and challenging her on those grounds. On healthcare, I prefer Obama’s less invasive approach. But then I prefer the Republicans’ even less invasive approach.

8.20 pm. The Clintons’ message: we can solve your problems. Forget the highfalutin rhetoric. We can actually do it.

8.14 pm. Pitch-perfect, statesmanlike opener from Obama. Nice points against identity politics.

(Photo: David McNew/Getty.)

A reader writes:

I just got back from the Kodak Theater to support Barack Obama.  It was quite the scene.  The place was packed with supporters, and I’d say 1 in 3 had some sort of sign, many of which were handmade. Hillary had her supporters there, but Obama’s folks outnumbered them about 4 to 1, I’d say.

The difference in the crowds was startling. Hillary’s group was mostly white and latino, women, and one African American that I saw. Once I got settled with my sign and had a chance to see my fellow supporters, I couldn’t help but chuckle. To my right, a tall Black man with dreads, flanked by an elderly white couple.  To my left, a 15 year old with a yarmulke, an asian woman in her 30’s, and   an early 20’s something Emo kid with died black hair and stretched ear lobes.  EVERY lanai had a similar makeup. I stood in the middle, a white man, weeks  away from turning 30, and you couldn’t have wiped the smile from my face.

In this ass backwards town, in this gaudy tourist trap, I felt something I have never felt before while living in Los Angeles: community.

Joe Klein asks it:

If she is elected, who exactly will be President? What happens when there is a real crisis? My guess is, she’d be able to handle almost anything … except him. I could easily see him jumping the shark, sending mixed messages when a single voice of authority is crucial — especially if the crisis involves one of his specialties, like the Middle East.

Jen Rubin has the scoop.

Obama scores a major coup in reaching listeners to Hispanic talk radio in key February 5 states.

Slate had the good sense to post a slide-show of various YouTubers reacting to another YouTube. Here’s my favorite. I have a very similar response watching a Hillary Clinton campaign ad: