Analysis: MSNBC Democratic Debate

28 September 2007 |permalink | email article

Frontrunner Hillary Clinton was less than stellar while Barack Obama, widely expected to begin mounting an assault on her, was off his message of change, too conciliatory and failed to impress.

John Edwards, running third, was far more aggressive and passionate than Obama and hit Clinton hard. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd came across as serious senatorial competitors. 

Tim Russert again proved during the presidential debate from Dartmouth College why he is the toughest political moderator on television, repeatedly pressing the candidates for specific answers to his questions.

He was particularly tough on Clinton, unflappable in the recent debates, but evasive on several subjects, calling some hypothetical questions.

Clinton contradicted her husband’s belief that a terrorist could be tortured to foil an imminent plot. “It cannot be American policy,” she told Russert, who asked if there should a presidential exception in certain cases if a terrorist knew a bomb was about the go off, but didn’t know where it was.

When Russert revealed that former President Clinton advocated such a policy on a recent NBC “Meet the Press,” Hillary won audience applause with a deadpan comeback: “Well, I’ll talk to him later.”

Problem is last October, Hillary told the New York Daily News: “If we’re going to be preparing for that kind of improbable but possible eventuality, then it has to be done within the rule of law.”

She said then the “ticking time bomb” scenario represents a narrow exception to her opposition to torture as morally wrong, ineffective and dangerous to U.S. soldiers.

Russert threw Obama two softballs to expand on why his insurgent candidacy and experience is different. He briefly went on about health care.

In a rare attack on Clinton, he said: “If it was lonely for Hillary, one of the reasons it was lonely, Hillary, was because you closed the door to a lot of potentially allies in that process. At that time (1993), 80% of Americans already wanted universal health care, but they didn’t fell like they were let into the process.”

Russert: “Sen. Obama, you go around the country saying it’s time to turn the page. Are you talking about the Bushes, the Clintons or both?”

Obama ducked, replying he was talking about ending “divisive politics” and “that it is important for us Democrats to be clear about what we stand for. I think ‘turning the page’ means that we’ve got to get over the special interest-driven politics that we’ve become accustomed to.”

He struck out, missing an opportunity to explain the difference between the tired politics of yesterday and the hope for tomorrow while questioning a third Clinton term - a virtual co-presidency - certain to trigger a national 2008 debate.

Russert asked Clinton whether it is healthy for a democracy to have a two-family political dynasty.

She deftly replied that “Bill was a pretty good president,” adding that “I’m running on my own. … and we need to start with leadership that can deliver results.”

That was the moment for Obama to interrupt her – as Edwards often did – and make a compelling case for change. It’s a bad omen for a candidacy in trouble.

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