Clinton/Obama Debate. Who will be watching?
 

This actually got third billing on the evening news.
http://www.csuohio.edu/debate08/

1. Weather: Cleveland is burried under snow
2. Former Police Officer awaiting sentence for killing his girlfriend and unborn daughter
3. The Debate

I will, although I'm not going to lie, I'll be flipping back and forth between it & American Idol. 'Cause my priorities are all in order and whatnot.

Gosh yes.. I need another debate to make up my mind.:rolleyes:

In the history of primaries, have there ever been so many debates?

Oh, but AI is on at 8:00 Eastern and the debate at 9:00.
We discussed at work how there couldn't be a conflict between AI and the Debate. What would the world come to????

Oh, alright then! Better! I expected it to start at 8. I'll probably watch it, then. As long as I can stand it, anyway. If it turns into a slugfest, I'm out. The more they tear each other down, the more the dark side wins.

I have been watching the pre-debate coverage and noticed a huge contingent of young voters. Do the republicans have such a following of young voters or are Republican and Young Votors an oxymoron?

I'm a young republican voter. We're certainly out there, but we're in the minority at most places. The exception being traditional SEC type schools, where it is actually cool to be a Republican (though I assure you Obama is doing better than Kerry did).

I won't be watching the debate.

Dunno, but I'm glad there aren't two more like Clinton wanted.

But, how much excitement is there for McCain? All I see on TV are Senior Citizens waving the GOP signs.
I agree that Obama is doing better than Kerry, but I think a lot of that is because Kerry didn't fit the democratic profile (even though his very wealthy wife was married to a democrat prior to him). Don't get me wrong, I liked Kerry and voted for Kerry, but I do see Obama appealing to the masses moreso.

I like both of them, but Hillary is living up to every stereotype regarding a woman president and their "emotions". She lets her anger show. She needs to be cool.

Obama, like the way you're answering and holding your own. No talks about hope tonight-it's all answers.

Mcain- somewhere asleep. You know he can't stay awake past 6:30.

No, there isn't much excitement about McCain. He's not exactly a young people candidate. I think you saw a lot more of that with Mitt, for example.

But young people lean left anyway, and a "change" person like Obama is going to do exceptionally well.

I have no idea if Obama will win the general, but I wouldn't be surprised if for every charismatic, excited young person campaigning now, there aren't 10 disgruntled senior citizens ready to vote against change and for another senior citizen.

And that's without even getting into the middle-aged, disillusioned former Fred Thompson, Romney, and Huckabee supporters who will probably just break down and vote for the party.

I like Hillary.

I am confident either can do the job, but I just can't get "jazzed" about Obama like so many others for some reason that I just can't put my finger on. I don't doubt he could handle the job. Though I do think he'd have a steeper learning/adjustment curve.

I like Hillary. I like her strength. I like her smarts. I like that she's a Mom. I like the idea of the difference we might see out of our government under a (smart, strong) female administration. Women think differently, communicate differently, approach issues differently. It's time things are done differently.

I like Hillary.

I watched the debate. And I think Hillary won again, as I think she did in Austin. I have followed her career and even seen her speak live before- and Austin was one of her best nights ever.

Tonight was more low key and serious and I think she fared better than Obama because of it. She is much smarter, more pragmatic and more specific.

Obama stumbled several times- as he did in Austin- and as usual I really have no clear idea of how he is going to achieve what he promises.

Plus he just made a lot of stupid and sweeping statements. He actually at one point made reference to Exxon's profits last quarter and said Exxon would not let go of those profits easily. As if he has the right to just take profit from a private company?! This is Hugo Chavez talk. Where are the Obamas when oil prices are low and oil companies are losing money? How about the millions of US citizens who make good livings in the oil industry? Do they not count like the auto industry workers Obama is so desperate to court?

Sadly, this will not matter. I still think Ohio and Texas are toss-ups, but those who have already drunk Obama's Kool-Aid are not likely to focus on the subtle nuances of how he has presented himself in these last 2 debates as compared to Hillary in terms of substantive commentary.

To be fair, I don't think Obama is an idiot- far from it. I just fear his Kennedy-like approach to campaigning- especially since he is, like Dan Quayle, no Jack Kennedy.

Kennedy was one of the worst Presidents of all time from a foreign policy perspective with the Bay of Pigs incident and how he initiated our involvement in Vietnam- a good idea, but not executed with a strategy to win definitively.

That said Kennedy was brilliant on social issues- easily the greatest President of all time along with LBJ in that arena. And on that score I do not see Obama with the same degree of vision to execute policy like Kennedy did- nor is there the same degree of need now that there was back then. It is not an equal world- and it never will be- but we are certainly at a point where it is not as critical on the priority list as it has been in the past.

At a time when this nation is financially suffering under the burden of social entitlements and amid a very tense international situation that was inevitable- I don't think this is the time for an Obama Presidency, assuming there is ever a time for him.

I laughed out loud at Obama's response about bombing Pakistan. I think they both did well and both stumbled in places.

I wanted to watch it but:
1) I just found out that my FIOS does not carry MSNBC
2) And it seems as if the MSNBC web coverage was over-loaded.

And hysterical.

Not like ha-ha, but like cuckoo and irrational.

But hey, whatever floats your boat.

Senusret,

What I don't get is why he does not get more specific. I think if he did then it would be much easier for him to walk away with this. The man is not an idiot. Even before Bill left office the world knew Hillary would be back. His success in this primary is enormous because he is beating the ultimate heir apparent of the opposing side at a time when an incumbent President is not even popular within his own party.

But then again, he is doing very well so maybe this is a good strategy. I don't like it since I think voters should expect leaders who are intelligent and get into specifics- but many a campaign has been lost on a specific position that gets torn to pieces in debates. And maybe I expect too much of the average voter :D

It is my automatic assumption that his lack of specific and pragmatic debate points indicates he is not prepared to lead- and that is a safe and reasonable assumption about such an important job. But maybe he is ready. I just don't know.

I don't get where you don't get that he has been specific. His biggest problem in getting to specifics is that he agrees so much with Clinton. They bounce back and forth with "specifics" and end up supporting each other. Clinton has stopped harping on the issue of specifics (because it is no longer an issue) and has taken to challenging Obama on experience.

Did you witness the argument during tonight's debate about health insurance? It took up a large portion of the early part of the debate. BOTH candidates addressed the specifics of each other's plans as well as promoting their own.

I don't know if this was just me, but I felt like Hillary really embarrassed herself tonight. While the content of her debate was good, it was overshadowed by her range of emotions being splayed clearly across her face every time she was displeased or every time that she came up with a counter point while Obama was talking and felt like she was going to be able to "stick it to him," if you will. That, coupled with her veritable hissy fit over the unfairness of her having each question first, I thought, made her look like a first class baby. I wanted to just shake her and say "Honey you're playing in the big leagues now, step up your game...and while you're at it grab yourself some big-girl panties!"
Overall I really thought that Obama handled himself with much more decorum, professionalism and class -all things I value highly in as prominent a figure as they're vying to be, especially considering the last eight years.

I saw it. I heard a lot of claims about who was going to get benefits- but Obama offered nothing substantive about how it would get done and be universal as advertised.

I think national health care would be a disaster, so I am not in favor of any of this- but in a cold analysis of their stated positions to date Hillary is the one who is laying out just how something like this has to be done if you really want to cover everybody.

I could write pages on this, but the question at hand is whether Obama has provided specifics at a high level on how his plan could be made to work- and I have yet to see any of that. He is very good at talking about who he will help and making assumptions about human nature (like the idiotic idea that "everyone" will want to buy national coverage since it is cheaper than private), but this is real life and the most powerful job in the world. It is disrespectful of the job for Obama to be so vague and lacking in substance on issues like this which have a powerful impact on many Americans.

FWIW- Obama is coming back to Austin tomorrow to give a speech which is being billed as a substantive discussion of his economic plan.

This suggests I am not alone in thinking that many voters are concerned about his promises and whether they can really be brought to actual policy.

Back to the big picture, I am waiting to see if some Obama scandal comes out Sunday on the talk shows or Monday morning. Tuesday is make or break for Hillary and there are many reasons Republicans might prefer to run against her versus Obama.

Right before the really key set of primaries is the perfect time for a little mudslinging and I really think something is going to happen along those lines.

Lol. I completely agree.

I haven't seen any of the other debates, so I don't know if she is normally as wound-up and obnoxious as she was last night, but I thought she was hysterical. (I think Brian Williams thought so too).

She needs to take a chill pill if she wants people to take her seriously.

I like the way he said Pakistan. :D

I'm an Obama girl. Hillary just left me :confused: with all of the bipolar symptoms she's been displaying. At times she was looking at Obama like she wanted to slap the ish out of him. And the SNL crack was simply unprofessional. Why whine about who gets the first question??? (and she's supposed to be ready on day one...:cool:)

The Rezko trial is a possibility of something, although I'm doubting anything is there that could hurt Obama badly. Our favorite Illinois governor has just been named as "Public Official A" though so that leaves Obama out of the running for that particular slot.