Last night's Democratic Candidate Debate in Austin, TX was like watching the New York Yankees play your kid's little league baseball team. Hillary kept hitting the ball out of the park, and Obama was the hapless pitcher on the mound turning his head to watch as yet another homer flies over the fence.
It was by far the best public performance we have seen from Hillary so far - she was poised, articulate, passionate and convincing. Her ability to think on her feet, especially speaking in rebuttal, was very impressive. Most important for the survival of her flagging campaign, she was able to clearly hit the main areas of pain and interest in both the audience and the nation.
At the other podium was a seemingly unprepared Obama. He struggled in answering what seemed to be even the most basic questions and had a very difficult time in rebuttal. It seemed at times that he had to fight to articulate each sentence, each word in his attempt to define his message. It was unlike his performances in stump speaches where he is smooth and self-assured. However, it was consistent with his performance in previous debates where pundits nearly always hand Hillary the mantle of the victor. Even the little debate tricks like pretending to take notes when your opponent is speaking, feigning disinterest, were unable to nibble at the powerful performance put on by the senior Senator.
The primary question (excuse the pun) remains to be answered, "Will this debate and the inevitable analysis of it have an impact on the TX and OH primaries?" Methinks, yes. If it will be enough to salvage her gasping campaign is another matter entirely. If anything, it should be fun to watch.
2 comments:
Perhaps Barack was distracted by the fan that was blowing his papers around - am I the only one who noticed that?
I saw it completely different. I think it was a draw...he is now as good as she is.
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