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Dictatorship of the Commentariat (2nd Attempt)
Maybe I was just drunk last night, but it seemed that, as usual, the media commentariat entirely missed the point of what happened in this debate. <p>Obama, often visibly frustrated with the lines of questioning being thrown his way, tended to respond with some aplomb and a healthy measure of disgust. There were uncomfortable moments, but overall he played the human to a robotic Hilary with her canned responses. I felt Obama was speaking to me in his intimate, plainly worded opening statement while Hillary was speaking in platitudes to no one in particular. Obama seems to have Bill's magic touch - he can make you feel like the only one in a crowded room. Some female colleagues recall meetings with the the former president with some particularly interesting and vivid details for this very reason. <p>As for McCain, his feted status was betrayed by the peels of laughter which followed the video of his comedy-of-errors pronouncement of economic policy. I can’t wait until McCain's honeymoon is over and he enters the proper glare of the spotlight. Obama’s response that McCain’s plan is to take out a credit card from
Comments (2)
Um, TPM is useless - so much for the software "Upgrayedd". Here is what I tried to write:
Maybe I was just drunk last night, but it seemed that, as usual, the media commentariat entirely missed the point of what happened in this debate.
Obama, while frequently visibly frustrated with the lines of questioning being thrown his way, tended to respond with some aplomb and a healthy measure of disgust. There were uncomfortable moments, but overall he played the human to a robotic Hilary with her canned responses. I felt Obama was speaking to me in his intimate, plainly worded opening statement while Hillary was speaking in platitudes to no one in particular. Obama seems to have Bill's magic touch - he can make you feel like the only one in a crowded room - no wonder women love Bill. Some female colleagues recall meetings with the guy with some particularly interesting and vivid details.
As for McCain, his feted status was betrayed by the peels of laughter which followed the video of his comedy of errors pronouncement of economic policy. I can’t wait until this guy is actually in the spotlight. Obama’s response that McCain’s plan is to take out a credit card from China and have our children and grandchildren repay our debt effectively captures the zeitgeist and will yield much mileage.
For me, the key moment was when Obama took the high road and defended Clinton for her mis-statements regarding her trip to Kosovo. It made him such a foil to the lines of attack Clinton was forced to pursue repeatedly. To me, the kiss of death for a campaign is when the candidate is left to carry out the attack themselves. I felt Clinton seemed to realize her fate last night when she was forced to discuss reuniting the party for the general election and finally acknowledged that Obama could win over McCain. She may have won this debate by some metrics, but her victory is pyrrhic and will hasten the end of this "bitter" war for the democratic nomination.
April 17, 2008 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
When the debate was over and the talking heads started talking about a Clinton win I thought they were on dog food. I agree with you whole heartedly. In adition to the moment you mentioned there was the time when he had shurged off the BS about the Weather Underground and she attacked, he (apearing reluctant to do so) called her on having similar ties. Another great mement was when he said she had learned the wrong lesson from the inane atacks against her in the 90's. I bet this is another one where the voters think he won while the pundits are calling it for her.
April 17, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
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