Democratic Presidential Debate

After watching the Democrats square off for the big debate in Las Vegas, I was a little surprised to come across Fox News's article entitled, "Obama Wins First Debate." However, after reading the article, I have come to agree with it's findings.

--it's not so much that [Obama] scored a knockout punch, or that he was head and shoulders above any of the other candidates. In fact, it's the opposite--

However, from the Obama playing field, a smaller and potentially greater victory was won. Obama's more obvious negative in his candidacy is inexperience, especially in comparison to his competitors. However, Obama held his own on the stage, countering arguments in a clear composed manner even from his toughest competition, Hillary Clinton. He undoubibly has less experience than any of his rivals, but he still held his ground.

Fox News and I have finally come to an agreement. Once Obama overcomes his inexperienced perception, he will quickly gain ground in the polls. The debate was an important step in this process.


Currently, Hillary's main advantage over Barack is the experience issue. This brings us back to the 1960 Presidential Election pairing Nixon against JFK. "Experience is a quickly vanishing asset in a presidential race." Nixon's slogan was "experience counts." Well, he lost, and clearly...hottness counts. Americans could finally watch the candidates debate, bringing in an entirely new asthetic. And JFK was smokin' hott. JFK was probably equally adept and well informed, but he was noticeibly more articulate and attractive.

In my opinion, Hillary was impressive. She gave off an intelligent and competent presentation, held firm with the men on stage, and also drew acclaim for her peacemaking. My only complaint is that she seemed very scripted, which could just be synonymous with "prepared"...but it had a hint of fakeness. But i'm always overly critical about the fakeness of politicians, so she was probably fine.

John Edwards and Hillary had an awkward moment when Hill's vote in support of the 2002 vote for the Iraq war was questioned. It would have been blown off if she would have fessed up to an error in judgement, or a lack of good information...but she didn't, and kind of came off as cold and ruthless. However, Edwards, in his cute southern draw asked those who also formerly supported the war to "search their consciences," it was very poetic.

Another bold stance of Hillary's was when she addressed the Supreme Court decision to ban partial birth abortions. This issue will definitely be embedded into her candidacy whether she likes it or not. I was annoyed that she made it seem slightly like a push for girl power? Thats not really where the abortion issue lies when debating a Republican. The bigger issue is that of Church vs. State, and the lines that have been crossed time and time again in Bush's presidency. Just because the Church says it is wrong, doesn't mean it should be illegal. The law is the law, and your religion is your own business. yes, i'm a libertarian.

Dennis Kucinich is an man who deserves his 15 minutes of fame. Staked out the far left as his own and even directly challenged the other candidates in their Iraq war beliefs. So perhaps he is just the bête noire of Democrats.

At this point it is necessary to share my first experience hearing about Kucinich...see my next blog entry!