Fight Like A Girl? Josh Marshall's score-card:..'.if you're going to talk like that -- nuance, as we used to say -- be able to defend it when people play with your words. And I don't see it.'
One observation stands out to me from this debate. Hillary can be relentless and like a sledgehammer delivering tendentious but probably effective attacks. But whatever you think of those attacks, Obama isn't very good at defending himself. And that's hard for me to ignore when thinking of him as a general election candidate.
'We're just getting warmed-up.' HRC, Jan 21, 2008, South Carolina debates.
Obama came out swinging, give him that. And ran straight into a barrelling truck. The bell rang and Obama promptly whined that Hillary wasn't fighting fair. She responded with a vicious kick to Iraq and a swift knee to his Reagans.
'Like that?'
The crowd cheered when Obama threw Walmart, but was more subdued when Obama wound up spitting Rezko. Minutes into the debate, the 'high-road express' lay smoking by the side of the tracks.
20 years of service in the media spotlight, harassed about her clothes, her judgment, her ambition, her marriage and her sex life, toughened Hillary up, that's for sure.
HRC's biggest battles, however, the ones that likely annealed her and prepared her best for America's most difficult job, probably occurred behind closed doors, going toe-to-toe with one of the toughest intellects in American politics: her husband. Her political ally over many campaigns both inside and outside the White House, as well as her closest adviser, Bill is the most recent Dem to occupy the White House. To say Hillary, and Bill, know their way around the Oval Office and its responsibilities is an understatement.
Obama could win South Carolina; he's still in the race. His campaign, however, is effectively over. He has no message. Obama can't go back to a fiction he himself can't practice: taking the high road against an adversary who knows no rules.
Obama threw as many punches as he took. The difference? HRC was in her element. Obama looked dazed, angry and confused. Victory, he seemed to understand finally, perhaps for the first time, cannot be won without a fight, a real fight against folks who don't fight back with flowers.
Americans may be sick of George Bush, but Bushco is far from sick of power. The interests that are Buscho will recognize few bounds trying to seize power again from a flustered and divided Dem party.
250 million dollars in Swiftboat money is already in the bank to wage war on the Dems nominees. The Heritage Foundation blog, a pipsqueak today, fired the first barely heard shot at TPM.
Thirty trillion dollars worth of oil was the prize for placing Bush in the White House. All of Iran's oil beckons in 2008, plus more off the coast of Africa. John McCain looks to be the candidate Bushco wants to reach for the ring.
It's time for Dems to choose their champion.