For the first time, it's a one-on-one debate. As my mother-in-law pointed out, it's now an historic race, because the Democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States will be either a woman or an African American.
I'm not live blogging the event, but I've been following a few blogs that are, including AmericaBlog and Raw Story. So far, I think both candidates are doing quite well and I'm happy to see quite a bit of collegiality, as that bodes well for Democratic party unity after the primary.
The quote of the night: "Somewhere along the line the Straight Talk Express lost some wheels." -- Barack Obama (and "I don't think Republicans will be in a position to argue fiscal responsibility," Obama said to cheers from the audience, noting the more than $4 trillion national debt).
UPDATE: Well, that was a great debate ("shockingly substantive," according to Josh Marshall)! There was real substance in this one (20 minutes on health care?!?! Yee-haw!) and everyone seemed to be relaxed and enjoying themselves. Both candidates looked good. Perhaps the knowledge that no one is on the ropes on Super Tuesday allowed them to take it easy. The talking heads seem to think that Obama had a slight edge on debate performance (mainly because Clinton still can't answer that question about her vote on Iraq without babbling, and still won't admit that her vote was a mistake), but I don't think there was any clear winner or loser. Here is the transcript!
UPDATE: cool transcript with interactive video!
4 comments:
I too was pleased with the debate. The talk kept to the issues - despite Wolf Blitzer trying to stir things up now and then - and the questions asked were good ones. I loved it that they took on questions that the Rs are going to come at them with. Another good line in the debate was the response given when asked to address the Rs claim that the country needs to be run like a business and by a CEO. Obama came out with a great retort and Hillary said what people should be reminded of: the government is more than a business...more than looking at the bottom line. I went to sleep feeling pretty good about our chances in the fall.
I just wrote a long comment, but it seems to have disappeared into cyberspace. Sigh. I'll just cut to the chase this time: I went to sleep feeling really good about our chances in the fall.
The "CEO" answer was my least favorite from Sen. Clinton. I think it misguided to revel in the complexity of the "organism" that is the FedGov, and disingenuous to perpetuate the myth that its primary purpose is to help everyone with everything. I'm no anarchist, but keeping it from being bloated just seems to make sense for efficiency's sake.
Sen. Obama sidestepped the question with his smart (and funny) jab at Gov. Romney, so I didn't get to hear how much his perspective might differ from hers.
Still, it was a good debate.
thanks for the update and the transcript. I'll give it a look later today.
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