Debates: 20 Down, None to Go?

Will they or won’t they? Fight, that is. That’s what many of us were wondering about the Clinton Obama debate last night in Cleveland. After last debate’s love-fest turned into a decidedly mean spirited week of campaign charges and counter charges, you might have expected that the plot would thicken when they were actually in the same room.

Not so much.

Admittedly, it’s more difficult to bash someone when they’re sitting two feet from you at the same table, but since there’s not much to debate on the issues (who hates NAFTA more? Me! No, Me! My health care plan’s mandate is more comprehensive than yours! and so on) maybe we get some entertainment value out of than slapping each other around a little bit.

Mostly, Hillary just managed to beat herself up. Just before she tried to sell us on the fact that she’s “a fighter” who’s tough enough to tackle special interests to deliver health care for all, she complained that she’s being treated unfairly by the media, who she accused of genuflecting before His Hopefulness.

“Can I just point out that in the last several debates,” Clinton said, channeling her inner Jan Brady. “I seem to get the first question all the time. And I don't mind. I -- you know, I'll be happy to field them, but I do find it curious, and if anybody saw "Saturday Night Live," you know, maybe we should ask Barack if he's comfortable and needs another pillow.”

(Video of this and the Saturday Night Live skit she referenced are below.)

After she stood by her earlier accusations that Obama had misrepresented her positions in campaign literature, he essentially reminded her of the harsh and enduring reality embodied by the famous Finley Peter Dunne quip that “politics ain’t beanbag.” Then Obama ratched it up a notch and used the W-word.

“We haven't whined about it because I understand that's the nature of these campaigns, but to suggest somehow that our mailing is somehow different from the kinds of approaches that Senator Clinton has taken throughout this campaign I think is simply not accurate.”

Increasingly desperate as the evening progressed, Hillary pounced after Obama tried to confront the issues raised by the unwanted endorsement he recently received from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who, among other claims to fame, has made anti-Semitic comments.

Obama said he has denounced Farrakhan, but that wasn’t good enough for Clinton.
Napoleon once said “never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake,” which is what Hillary should have done as Obama squirmed with his rather tepid attempt to distance himself from Farrakhan, continuously referring to him as “Minister Farrakhan,” as Nation of Islam members do. At that moment, there were probably more than a few guys in Texas picturing Obama in a bow tie and one of those angry black man hats, but she just couldn’t stop herself.

“I'm just saying that you asked specifically if he would reject it,” she said, “and there's a difference between denouncing and rejecting.”
She’s accused Obama of being all talk and no action, offering words, not solutions. He turned this around her quickly showing how skillful use of words can deflate a sanctimonious attack.

“I have to say I don't see a difference between denouncing and rejecting,” Obama said. “There's no formal offer of help from Minister Farrakhan that would involve me rejecting it. But if the word "reject" Senator Clinton feels is stronger than the word "denounce," then I'm happy to concede the point, and I would reject and denounce.

I call your verb and raise you two.

Hillary also blew her chance to dismiss the controversy over the picture supposedly sent to the Drudge report by her campaign staff of Obama in local African clothing when he visited Kenya. The whole affair threw her campaign off balance off a whole day and this was her opportunity to rise above it.

She should have said something like “I think he looks good in that picture” and moved on. Instead, she let herself get dragged into a discussion of campaign tactics and tacitly accepting the premise that anything that would link Obama to being foreign or God forbid a Muslim (he’s not) is only a negative if you’re a bigot.

Nothing Hillary Clinton is doing is working. Before anyone actually voted, her campaign ran like a Swiss watch. Now it appears perilously close to spinning out of control. Last night’s debate performance was solid, but probably didn’t give anyone a reason to change their minds.