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TURNING TO TORQUEMADA FOR DEBATE ADVICE.
Dan Blaz joins David Brooks in putting a positive spin on last night's debate:
Barack Obama got the first real glimpse here Tuesday night of what he will face if he becomes the Democratic presidential nominee. Between now and November, the most important question he will be forced to answer is: Who is Barack Obama?That was the subtext of the relentless questioning he faced at the National Constitution Center here on Tuesday. For the first half of the debate, ABC's Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos threw one question after another at Obama that all shared the same underlying themes: what are your values and what do you believe?
For this reasoning to work, you need to assume that both Gibson and Stephanopoulos intentionally designed their questions to bring out Obama's values and beliefs. But we know that isn't the case. In fact, Stephanopoulos received his debate coaching from none other than Sean Hannity -- not exactly who you turn to for advice on honestly assessing a candidates' beliefs. But even worse, Balz expects us to believe this was a necessary, even positive, development in the campaign:
Some viewers took umbrage at the questions. After all, it took 45 minutes or more to get to real policy, which is where the discussion remained for the rest of the night. But after 20 previous debates, Obama and Clinton had plowed through much, though not all, of the policy ground they were asked to return to on Tuesday. What had not taken place was a prime-time airing of questions that some voters may have about Obama -- and that his Republican opponents sense will be the keys to winning or losing in November.
So in a Democratic primary, "some voters" wonder whether Obama is more of a patriot than Jeremiah Wright, wonder why Obama doesn't wear a flag lapel pin, and wonder why Obama hasn't firmly denounced every controversial figure that he has crossed paths with in his life, no matter how trivially, at the earliest possible moment? If such people exist, are they really on the fence on who to choose? .
--Mori Dinauer
COMMENTS (5)
It was shocking how poorly Obama performed under such mild scrutiny and where the playing field was, for the first time in this campaign season, level.
The Obamabots in the media have done him no favors by coddling him for so long. Did he really think he was going to be able to remain hermetically sealed and protected by the likes of Huffington, Olbermann, Mattehws, Alter, Wolfe, Marshall, Kos, et al. all the way through the general and up to inauguration day?
Posted by: JoeCHI | April 17, 2008 3:27 PM
You know, it's really laughable how the HillaryBots have this really bizarre notion that Obama has been "hermetically sealed and protected." Where they hell have they been for the past few months?
Posted by: PaulB | April 17, 2008 3:50 PM
Joe, you're dead wrong- as three online polls (ABC, CBS and DRUDGE), all showing Obama as the overwhelming "winner", illustrate. All he had to do was stay calm and not generate any clips that could be used against him, and that's what he did. He also made Hillary look petty- after she enthusiastically joined in the attacks on him, he pointedly refrained from piling on her about the sniper lies. He made it quite clear that, unlike her, he's thinking seriously about the need to unify the party after the primary. That's what Democratic voters want to hear. As he himself made clear today in NC, he'll exercise no such restraint in responding to McCain.
Your typical undecided voter is making a gestalt decision about character and doesn't care about laundry lists, either of "gotchas" or policy-wonkery. (Just ask President Gore about the electoral value of "winning" debates on points.) I guarantee you that the majority of them came away with a more positive impression of Obama than of Hillary. Every time she's gone on the attack in this campaign, her own negatives ahve gone up. By now they're well into :unelectable" territory.
Posted by: Steve LaBonne | April 17, 2008 4:01 PM
HillaryBot just doesn't have the ring to it that Obamabot does. The elision works better with the short "a" sound as opposed to the long "e" in "Hillary."
Also,
I think it's because "Obamabot" can fit so easily into that muppet song, "menomena."
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BPRB4XF74-Q
Posted by: jj | April 17, 2008 6:46 PM
The use of "Torquemada" is an obvious anti-Catholic smear. Don't you guys want my vote in fall?
Posted by: Anonymous | April 17, 2008 10:56 PM