Hillary Clinton's Debate Knockout Performance

Posted on February 21, 2008

The Democratic debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was held at the University of Texas tonight in front of a very enthusiastic crowd. Overall, the tone was very civil and friendly. But there were a couple of heated moments on healthcare and on the Obama plagiarism issue.

Barack Obama lapsed into his rambling professorial mode. He was sort of phoning it in. Hillary was excellent as she always is in debates. But she really shone on the foreign policy issues: her command of the issues in Cuba, Kosovo and around the world was obvious. She definitely won the healthcare exchange about universal healthcare. Obama always does better with a Democratic crowd when he says he opposed the war on Iraq. Clinton wisely didn't rehash her vote to authorize force back in 2001 -- we've been through that debate so many times I could recite each politician's argument just about verbatim. She clearly looked more like a commander in chief: she seemed cool and in charge.

She didn't bring up the plagiarism controversy but, surprisingly, CNN did. Best zinger of the night went to Clinton: "I just think that if your campaign is about words, they should be your words...Copying whole sections of speeches is not change you can believe in, it's change you can Xerox." The Obamamaniacs hated the line, but it certainly resonated with Frank Luntz's Democratic focus group on Fox -- they thought she should "really go after him" for his borrowing from Deval Patrick's speeches. In fact, they were pretty steamed about Obama's lifting of lines, which they thought was "unethical".

Obama was rattled and it showed: he began stuttering. He did better on the commander in chief question, but I was distracted by the apparent gale force winds that were whipping through the studio -- his notepad was flapping in the breeze like it was going to fly away. Another tactical error he made was to mention that some people think that his supporters are "delusional." For those who haven't been following the "Obamamania is a Cult" stories in the press, it brought it to their attention. It was not smart to bring it up. Hillary just smiled.

Overall, Hillary won the debate on substance and in the very last question, she knocked it out of the park. The question was "Describe the moment in your life when you were tested the most." Obama answered that it was hard to be raised by a single mother. But Hillary's answer brought the crowd to its feet. It really was a transcendent moment for her in which she really connected with her listeners. Here's the video: