TONIGHT: I'M NOT HILLARY (AND SO CAN YOU!)
Joe Biden did the right thing, bringing it to the Republicans. He almost pulled a Jack Palance (who obliterated actor Bill Kristol one evening) on Rudy Giuliani, saying that his experience was bunk ("a noun, a verb, and 9/11").
I was deeply disappointed in the handling of the nuclear non-proliferation questions, especially from the Russert and Williams.
It is not what we will do unilaterally - these bogus 'red line' issues for a President. It's what we can get others to ask us to do.
Used to be that the media pundits would look to how a candidate managed a campaign to see what kind of skills they had. Clearly, Clinton is running the best campaign in the country right now. What's more, I cannot see how "meeting a payroll" is the qualification for measuring how to deal geopolitics ... It's a shame to see "the media" buy into the Republican line on that.It is not what we will do unilaterally - these bogus 'red line' issues for a President. It's what we can get others to ask us to do.
All the rest went to the non-frontrunners.
Kucinich deserves big kudos for taking the media to task on pressing the Iranian questions in a way conducive to pushing war forward.
Richardson showed that he has the ability to abstract in ways that are valuable, when he took a step back and said, "This isn't bash Hillary night", basically.
Senator Dodd is looking more like the kind of Senator you'd like to win over a Governor - one who knows the legislative history in a way that can be most effective. He seems to be finding a 'Presidential Voice', slowly, rather than that hopelessly deferential stuff that gets ingrained by Senate rules. Strong on energy, strong on education.
Obama looked abstract. He continually abstracts about policies and process. That's fine, but we know he can do this already. We need to see an ability to connect in other ways. (Oh, man, don't think I didn't catch that finger pointing with the right hand at Hillary, complete with ever so slight pivot, or Edwards' double hand 'finger point', that amounted to the same thing.)
I wish I could issue a 'team vote'. It's clear that, as a group, they each have distinct strengths, with no one clearly 'superior'. I like Edwards' confrontational style - he'd make a great majority leader in the Senate - and Kucinich's willingness to go a step farther.
I was deeply disappointed in the handling of the nuclear non-proliferation questions, especially from Russert and Williams. It is not what we will do - these bogus 'red line' issues for a President. It's what we can get others to ask us to do. It's what the Congress decides, too, right?
