Posted on 04/16/2008 10:07:34 PM PDT by The_Republican
This was not a good debate for Obama, period. But it wasn't a great debate for Clinton either. Of course, that may not matter to Team Clinton. In a twp-way debate, it's not about which candidate narrowly wins -- but which candidate gets pummeled in the post-debate reviews. And Obama will get pummeled because well he did get pummeled, a little bit by Clinton and a little bit by the moderators.
In the first 40 minutes of the debate, most of the questioning was on Obama's negatives (except for a lone Bosnia-sniper question to Clinton) and that's what helped create what was a near disastrous performance by Obama in those first 40 minutes. He was weak in a lot of his answers on his personal negatives. (Did he really compare Tom Coburn to a one-time '60s radical/terrorist?) Clinton, meanwhile, piled on, particularly (and surprisingly, actually) on Ayers.
Many news organizations will feel compelled to do Ayers stories in the next few days. While some may question the fairness and relevancy of the Ayers issue, it's not going to be good for Obama.
This debate is going to lead a lot of Obama supporters to ratchet up the calls on Clinton to either withdraw or tone down the attacks. Clinton supporters will point to this debate as proof that he's not yet ready for the general, that's why she should stay in, and that's why superdelegates should overturn the winner of pledged delegates.
And as we've noted in "First Thoughts" quite a few times, whenever the spotlight is on one candidate, the other seems to benefit. Tonight, the spotlight was on Obama, and for a short period of time, I expect Clinton to benefit.
(Excerpt) Read more at firstread.msnbc.msn.com ...
If I was a Democrat Superdelegate, the performance by Obama last night would scare me to death. He is not ready for prime time, not by a long shot.
I would love to put that on my bumper. I am surrounded by Obama liberals here.
“With Obama, the Republicans will NEVER, everrrrrrrrr, challenge him on ANYTHING for fear of being called “racists.””
McCain said he will not attack Obama and he will not ‘let’ 527’s attack him either.
Yes, it was to get Hillary votes from Puerto Ricans in NY.
I take it you are slow.
yes, of course it is. The short-term objective right now is to keep the Dem in-fighting going which will, hopefully, weaken the party, thereby increasing the chances of getting McCain elected in November.
yes, I hear ‘ya and agree on Hillary. My big regret is that my little 81-year-old mom said to me tonight, when we were talking about the debate, she liked what Hillary said about getting out of Iraq and her modus operandi. For some reason, my mother is pretty adamant that we shouldn’t have been there in the first place and we need to be out. (Well, she did grow up Democrat, could that be it?) My father, like me, understands the bigger picture. But how do you argue with your elderly mother on this? Answer: You don’t.
My mother is drinking the Obama Kool-Aid, and refuses to come off of it. My 27 year old sister is feeding it to her, and I am virtually helpless to change my mother. It's good advice to not discuss it with them.
Fortunately for me, Dad is more conservative than I am.
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