Dem’s Debate

Did anyone get a chance to catch ‘dem debate’ last night? It was quite fascinating, I thought. It is no suprise that the front page of every news outlet declared Sen. Hillary Clinton as the victor…..Give me a break!!!! It is pretty clear that Sen. Joe Biden won the debate.

The fact that Sen. Hillary won this debate further proves that she is too much of a ‘polarizing’ figure. The events that unfolded days before the election set the stage for her performance in the ‘Sin City’ debate. The media, especially, came into this debate with their eyes focused on Sen. Clinton, everybody wanted to know is she will ‘bounce back’ from all the attacks and mishaps that has been laid heavily upon her campaign, which was unfare to the other candidate. To put it in simple terms, all eyes were on the senator and that worked to the disadvantage of all the other candidate. The fact that she had a lot of supporters in the room (with audience ‘booing’ Obama and Edwards when they offered criticism towards Hillary) further helped her and gave her the appearance that she knew what the heck she was talking about, in other words, she felt very comfortable because she was at home. However, I must give her the credit for a job well done last night, there is no doubt that this is probably the best debate that she has ever had. Everything worked in her favor, she got the most time and also the most criticism. I give her a B.

I am still trying to figure out what is the matter with Sen. Obama. His performance last night was way below par; he simply failed to build upon the momentum that he had gained coming into this debate. His answers were long, drawn out, far from being precise, and very vague. He clearly showed a lack of confidence while he was standing on that stage and it easily showed that he was totally unprepared for the debate. Here is my advice to the Obama campaign: 1. There is nothing wrong with “flip-flopping.” This is one of the main factors that is helping Sen. Clinton. You have to be able to change your mind on issues because situations change, and you have to be able to adapt. When he was asked about the Iraq war, he still stood by his principle of “no progress in Iraq,” and that he will pull the troops out withing the first 18months of his term. This is definitely far from reality, there has definitely been a significant progress in the Iraq war, the violence has drastically reduce even though there has been little progress made on the political front. Sen. Obama has to acknowledge this, times change Sir and you have to adapt. 2. Do not focus on the damges that were done during this debate, continue to go after the voters. We all know that Obama does better when he is in front of a friendly audience, which is one similiarity that he has with Pres. Bush. President Bush does terrible in debate, but terrific in front of a friendly audience. 3. Obama needs to balance his criticism of Sen. Clinton with articulating his plans for creating a greater America. There is no doubt that this is one of his worst performance, therefore I give him a C.

As for John Edwards, I feel very sorry for the guy. There is no doubt that he has the right vision for where this country needs to go next i.e fighting poverty, re-shaping America’s view in the international community, limit the influence of lobbyists in out political system, etc. However, he lime light has been shadowed by the battle between Obama and Hillary. I think he will make a good Vice-President, we need someone who is not going to talk stuff about other countries all the time (Dick….Cheney). I give him a C+.

In my view, Joe Biden won the debate. He was very articulate as usual, and brought the candidates back to focusing on issues after they took a brief detour barking at each other. He is also very relaxed and funny, he kept the audience enagaged and made them laugh throughout the whole debate. There is no doubt that he as the best foreign policy credibility. I give him a B+

As for the other candidate, they are a waste of time. I’d rather watch “Billo” on Foxnews before I hear them say a word.