Clash of the Titans

If anyone imagined that Obama didn't have the nads to frontally assault Hillary need only to watch about a thousand video clips circulating on the internet. This was a slugfest, folks. One that was a long time coming if you, like me, are an Obama supporter.

To be fair, they both took hits. Edwards certainly capitalized on the fracas, appearing more Presidential as the two duked it out, but it was Obama and Clinton that dominated the stage. Edwards lamented that fact on several occasions during the debate. Sorry John, your best showing has been second place thus far, and you lost by nearly 40 points in Nevada. After SC it's time to call it a day.

I thought Obama made the case for his candidacy in the most forceful terms during the debate, and even during the most heated exchanges he maintained his composure, and civilly drilled away at the Clinton talking points over the last two weeks. SC is Obama's to lose. He really should simply start thinking about Tsunami Tuesday.

Hillary was most articulate and persuasive when talking about health care. She framed it brilliantly as a shared responsibility. It was during the health care moments where I saw Obama's achilles heel. Whereas, in effect, Obama, Edwards, and Hillary's plans are fundamentally the same. Hillary's and Edwards hold greater rhetorical power--the whole "universal" (read: mandate) thing. Obama doesn't believe that adults should be mandated to purchase government health care. Edwards made the most serious counterargument by suggesting that Obama's "choice" rhetoric is similar to Bush's "choice" rhetoric regarding social security reform. Although I think this flawed, it was powerful. Clearly Obama wasn't prepared for this line of reasoning. My take is that Obama is building upon the foundation already in place (health care), whereas Bush attempted to dismantle the foundation (social security). It's not a one for one correspondence as Edwards would have you believe, but it was a visceral argument tying Obama to Bush in an interesting way. Obama will have to challenge this point.

It is my view that Hillary's health care plan will be more attractive to the democratic base and Obama's health care plan will be more attractive to a general election audience. But you have to get through the democratic base to get to the general election. It will be a long, hard slog.

I'm not a dewy eyed idealist. I know that Obama is a long shot for the nomination. All the Powers That Be are arrayed against him and for Clinton. The fact that he is even CLOSE is the story of the hour. Hillary is a flawed candidate. If she gets the nomination for the democrats, and McCain gets the nomination for the republicans, the republicans get another four year shot at the white house.

In summary, I thought Obama won the debate. He was strong, articulate, principled, and knowledgeable. His comments about transcending race were powerful. He is the best democratic hope to unite the country behind a common agenda--a fundamentally democratic agenda. It remains to be seen how this plays out. Regardless, he is fighting the good fight and doing it with class and conviction.