These "debates" are of course not "real" debates. But in tonights "debate," both Hillary and Obama were pretty impressive. Very impressive. Perhaps I'm just too impressionable?
They were both funny. Smart. Articulate. Knowledgeable. Involved. Right. Impressive. Wow.We stumbled upon the "pre-game" warmup on CNN. CNN was really overdoing the pre-debate hype. It's rather nauseating, and embarrassing. Total media overkill and bluster. They even showed the "contenders" getting out of their cars, fer crissakes, and walking into the theater, like they were fighters coming into the ring.
"Obama vs. Clinton" was the constant graphic.
"And now...standing at 6 foot, 2 inches...weighing in at 215 pounds...." is what it felt like. We muted it a lot, but the crowds outside, or inside, or somewhere, were all chanting and carrying signs. Kinda eerie. These people are pumped.Behind the commentator, Obama was pictured in stark Warhol relief, in many different shades, like his ancestry. Hillary signs mixed in with the Obama signs. The whole thing sort of felt...orchestrated. Contrived. Shit, we're already down to only two candidates, and we're not even at Super Tuesday yet.
Still....
I thought both Hillary and Obama were extremely impressive tonight. Right at the start, they both made it clear that whatever differences may exist between the two of them pale in contrast to the differences with the Republicans. Good start.
This was the best "debate" I've seen in a long time. Catch the repeat if you missed it. If there is a repeat.
Both of them got some good shots at McCain and his "100 years in Iraq" comment.
Compared to the Republicans, oh. my. god. There should be no competition. With all the Bush-fatigue out there, and the record Democratic voter turnouts so far in the primaries, if the Democrats do NOT win the Presidency (and multiple House and Senate seats), and if the voting is very close, and if there are fresh rumors of vote-stealing and voter suppression, I shudder to think how people might react. I know I'm sick to death at the soiling the USA has taken under Bush. Barack and Hillary didn't make it any easier to decide between them tonight. I can easily see them both on the ticket. Woman on top? Man on top? How do you like it? No side-by-side spooning allowed.
On the one hand, I wish there were more candidates on the stage to broaden the conversation in a more progressive direction. I really don't understand why so many Democrats have dropped out, so soon. Hell, McCain has been limping along with hardly any money for months. Did Guido pay them a visit?
On the other hand, the debate format allowed the two of them to speak at length more than usual. Oh boy, you say? Politicians given long periods of time in which to speak? Well, sometimes things do take longer than a few seconds, or sound-bites, to discuss.
Wolf Blitzer, the moderator (again!), started by saying that the only rule is that there are no rules. Then he promptly gave each candidates 90 seconds (or so) to "open." (Is that a rule, Wolf? No matter.) Giving them practically unlimited time is much preferable to the silly 60 second answer, and 30 seconds to rebut, then you get 30 more to rebut the rebuttal, etc. Quite the star-studded crowd tonight in LA too. It's good to see so many recognizable faces in the crowd, some sporting Hillary buttons or Obama buttons. I was a little disappointed that they didn't discuss the writers strike at all, but, hey, there are only so many seconds in a minute, so many minutes in an hour, so many hours in the debate...
When it does come down to soundbites, and it will, Hillary launched a great one to the oft-heard question about running the government like a business. I'd say Hillary had more soundbites than Obama tonight. So, by that standard, Hillary wins. Obama is young. He could serve as VP, then step up to POTUS.
Oh, God, we could be capable of so much good in this country. It's all just being stolen and squandered under Bush.
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