Debate

So, I watched the debate last night between Obama and Clinton. It was mostly civil, and the ideas they shared were good. Their main differences lie in healthcare and how they would treat "enemy" states. However, I'd have to say Obama won the debate hands-down. He kept himself civil the entire time. She, once again, tried to denigrate him by bringing up the plagiarism "issue." She made fun of Obama, saying it's not change you can believe in. It's change you can Xerox. This statement actually earned her the only booing in the debate! To his credit, Obama didn't angry. He simply said his friend and co-chairperson of his campaign, Deval Patrick, told him to use the lines and Obama stated that not giving credit and making an issue of it was entering into political "silly season!" He tried to stay on track and made a statement that shut her up about this burning, in her mind at least, "issue." He said this was not a time to tear each other down but to lift up this country.

When she tried, yet again, to accuse of him of being all speeches and non-substantive, he answered that means millions of campaign workers and voters who've been paying attention were just suffering from mass delusion. Good comeback!

The rest of the debate, however, was mostly civil, with Hillary even stating (and it was pretty good political maneuvering) that she was simply honored to be sharing the stage with Obama. And she had a pretty good moment at the end when she mentioned her trials in life (a thinly veiled reference to Bill's "indescretions") were nothing compared to the trials she sees people facing every day, be they wounded soldiers, people stricken by povery, or people losing their homes.

One of the best, ongoing parts of the debate was watching both Clinton AND Obama BASHING the Bush administration in general and the president in particular! Lots of applause on that all around! It was great!

I must confess, after watching her, while I still hate the negative campaigning and rhetoric on her part, many of her ideas are the same as Obama's, and I do have a bit more respect for her. By no choice of her own, and I'm sure by the prodding of her campaign managers, she was mostly civil and pleasant. But I still find Obama to be the far superior candidate and look forward to him being president come January 20th, 2009.

Polls update: At this point, Obama has caught up to Clinton in the polls in Texas and has pulled to within seven points in Ohio, pretty assuring that even if Clinton wins those states, she still won't get the landslide she needs to pull ahead. Which is a GREAT thing. With about ten days left before elections in Ohio and Texas, Barack Obama has the chance to do what he has consistently done in the past ten primaries/caucuses; Pull ahead and pull off stunning victories. We can only hope! My Obama yard sign is going up on my front lawn on Monday, as soon as I get it!