Democratic Debate Reflections

I watched the whole CNN debate last week and here's my thoughts. Hillary was the winner, regaining her footing in front of a sympathetic crowd. Edwards didn't do too badly. Obama was a mess. He utterly lacked all good political instincts on Wolf Blitzer's round-the-podium's yes-or-no conclusion question on driver's licenses. Obama said he was for it in the last debate. He was clear about it. He could have easily have kept his answer brief. I was stunned and appalled at his digging his own grave as he temporized and mangled what should have have been a no-brainer: cut your losses and say "yes." Obama looked way to cerebral, and after that I have to seriously question his political instincts.

Hillary at that point looked triumphantly down at his battered bloodied corpse. What a triumph for her. But Obama had a really nice put-down in the second half of the debate on the Social Security question. Hillary really didn't have an answer. I was surprised that that moment did not get a whole lot of reaction in the talking-head post-debate analyses.

Richardson continued to be a buffoon. Edwards looked a lot more presidential to me. A win for Hillary, though, on the "slinging mud" line against Edwards.