I just watched the Obama/Clinton debate and came away wondering if there was anything said worth hearing. I must admit, Hillary wins as a stand-up comedienne, with a few good quips. And the “how would you use George W. Bush as a statesman” question was an open door that neither took.
Yet, I was hoping for more, waiting for something that said hands down, one is a winner- and it wasn’t there.
I’m sure when it’s either one of them facing McCain the answer will be clear, but, in choosing between these two, it’s easy to understand that people have their own quirks which favor one or the other which is fine and dandy.
I thought both of them failed miserably on the early question of taking each other as running mates (to which I’m absolutely opposed to).
If there was one time when I really wanted to jump through the set and go for the jugular- it was when Clinton blamed her faulty memory of gunfire in Bosnia as she got off the plane on “lack of sleep”- I was waiting for Obama to say- well, I guess when you get the call at 3am your judgment might not be so hot, eh?
For me, it’s still clearly Obama, just because of the wider support base, the swearing off of the PAC money and the move away from dynasty politics.
An astute politico that I know, thought this would be the debate where the gloves came off. It obviously wasn’t.
I’m thinking the problem lies in the structure of these “debates” which are more like interviews than true debate. Needless to say, if you are in Pennsylvania right now, it must suck watching TV with the constant barrage of political spots- and robo-calls ringing off the hook.
If America really wants change- it’s time to really consider changing this process altogether. Let’s take the money out of it, limit the length of the campaigns, make sure the popular vote matters and maybe even start throwing the bastards out when they get caught lying to us.
Thoughts from you?
My first thought about the first 45 minutes of the debate:
“When did the National Enquirer hire Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous? And why are they moderating a debate?”
When you take cues about what questions to ask from Sean Hannity, you’ve lost your journalistic ethics.
But I was happy that Obama called bullshit on the whole thing about Bill Ayers – when he mentioned Tom Coburn as his friend. I like that Obama won’t participate in these stupid smashmouth politics!
I think the people of Pennsylvania would be much better served learning about the candidates position on the issues rather than learning why Obama doesn’t wear a flag lapel pin.
Joel-
I couldn’t believe that a debate about who should lead the free world included the question about a piece of cheap costume jewelery- that was probably made in China.
But- I was still waiting to hear Obama say- we may have gotten higher tax revenues when we lowered the capital gains tax- but, I think we wiped those out when we went in and bailed out Bear Sterns.
There was nothing substantiative about how the banks and credit card companies are ripping off the American public-
the line about the 50 fund managers making 27 billion last year- should have been the jumping off point for a heated discussion about how these charlatans are just doing another Enron- and we’re still turning a blind eye.
Thanks for joining in!
Not a single question about education, health care, the envionrment, trade, War on Terrorism, worker rights, Medicare, workforce development, wages, etc. A full half on personality issues, gaffes, flag lapel pins, and personality b.s. Was this ABC News or Fox News.
A complete disgrace. Shame on ABC.
GOTCHYA!
Former press secretary to Bill CLinton Stephanopolous certainly unfurled his political colors and let them fly during the “debate” did he not?
The Colbert Report provided a “bit” of substantive balance by airing Obama’s comments about spurious side issues distracting the “national dialogue” on the heels of Hillary’s walk on-walk-off-three-joke-call me at 3am routine.
The state of current political system is like being on crack. Until the system crashes at rock bottom nobody’s gonna kick it. Considering the inverse rate at which the dollar is plunging against the soaring that should come just about a week after the inauguration.
“against the soaring price of oil”
I predict Hillary will throw in the towel Wednesday