Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Debate

I am very relieved that Clinton seems to have decided not to keep going negative on Obama. As usual Josh Marshall articulately summarizes things:

I alluded to this in my debate sum-up below. But one of my big questions about this debate was Hillary Clinton's lack of aggressiveness toward Barack Obama. I think it spoke very well of her on a number of levels -- personally, as a potential leader, etc. She made her case on her merits and policies.

But there is no mistaking the fact that by every metric and every visible trendline Barack Obama is in the process of winning the nomination. At least conventional political logic would dictate that she had no choice but to go after him just as she has been doing on the campaign trail.

But she didn't.

Some are saying that she realizes she's losing and she wants to lose gracefully or not damage the interests of the Democratic party in the fall. Others that the tack she took is actually the best one for her to take. I suspect it's a bit of both.

But that was the big silence in this debate.

2 comments:

Amy said...

I could be wrong, but I think their is something in Obama that keeps her up in scale in the integrity arena in these debates. He brings out the better side of her...of course there is a possibility that she decided to stay positive on her own.

I almost had tears in my eyes with her last statement at the end...seems she really spoke from her heart..call me crazy!

Lauren said...

I agree Amy.

I had the sense that she really knows it is pretty much over, that she wanted to end on a positive note.

It reminds me so much of Gore & Kerry - once they could be themselves they were so likable. However under all of the pressure of the campaign they were stiff and scripted.

Clinton's biggest biggest mistake of her campaign was the people she surrounded herself with. The same people who always get Democrats to be scared of themselves - probably the same people who convinced her to vote for the war.

Obama has surrounded himself with great people - and more importantly he seems to totally know his own voice.

Yes we can!