Or, perhaps when they don't.

After all the sniping of the last several weeks, it was clear that both Obama and Clinton's camps realized it was reaching the level of providing "comfort to the enemy" (which has been unable to exploit it because of the nastiness going on over on the GOP side).  Instead, Obama and Clinton were ... collegial, not quite friendly, definitely still rivals, but politely respectful, sheathing their long knives in velvet.  Good for them.

Heck, Obama even pulled back Clinton's chair at the end of the debate.

I took extensive notes, but just as a highlight:

1. Obama is less polished than Clinton.  When he gets rolling with speechifying, he's gripping, but in getting down to smaller comments, he's less smooth.  To some that might come across as being less exprerienced and unsure; others would find Clinton's glibness to be proof of how much the uber-politician she is.
2. I give the nod to Obama for domestic and economic policy.  Clinton's "freeze foreclosures for 90 days, and interest rates for five years" is economic nuttiness -- either meaningless campaign rhetoric or a betrayal of profound ignorance.
3. I give Clinton a half-nod on foreign policy.  She's smart enough to not commit to a timetable for finishing a withdrawal from Iraq, albeit planning on a start ASAP.  I'm mixed on the whole "do we talk with international reprobates with or without preconditions" thing -- but I'm more inclined these days toward talking than not talking, so I give the nod here to Obama.
4. Both candidates, especially early on, did their darnedest to pick up some of the (not-yet-endorsing) Edwards voters.  Both mentioned and thanked Edwards and his wife during their opening remarks (Obama came off as more sincere), and both noted in their various debate answers where they were right in line with Edwards' populism.  (Minor props to Obama for also noting a case where he was in line with Bill Richardson.)
5. Both candidates took more than a couple of swipes at McCain -- nothing too nasty yet, but making it clear some shortcomings they saw on him. Both candidates, in the spirit of détente, also noted that they were much closer to each other than either was to the GOP.
6. The underlying arguments on both sides were pretty much to script.  Obama is for CHANGE and Clinton is for PROBLEM-SOLVING.  Obama is INEXPERIENCED and Clinton is OLD SCHOOL.  I think Obama did a bit better in his positions than Clinton did in hers,
7. Neither candidate's willing to admit that their universal health care plan is going to cost a Lot of Money.  That doesn't necessarily mean we shouldn't do it, but it's disingenuous (and dangerous) to argue that it's going to be easy to pay for.
8. Clinton waffled, deked, and dodged on the whole Why Did You Vote For Invading Iraq question.  Some of her arguments were good ones, but her unwillingness to say "I goofed" was a weakness.  Obama, on the other hand, ducked a couple of questions, too.
9. Wolf Blitzer is a dolt who was much more interested in having the audience hear what he had to say, and to come across as a hard-hitting journalist, than in letting the candidates speak.  CNN was also very annoying about running commercials longer than the debate breaks, so that more than once we came back in mid-answer from a candidate.
10. Neither candidate looked very enthused about running on the other's ticket (or about asking the other to run with them).  I think the chances are pretty unlikely -- but it was another attempt to foment some conflict between them, something that Blitzer, in particular, kept trying to do.

Who won?  I think both candidates came off well, and their supporters probably considered them the winner.  As someone who went in much more agnostic about the choice, I was more impressed, overall, with Obama, though neither candidate wowed me to the degree I wish they had.

Time for more mulling.

Filed under :: Elections 2008
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Really, it is a battle royale as to who is the bigger Dork. Timmeh (Russert), Tweety (Matthews), or Blitzer.

I say we lock them in a cage and let them sort it out.

Better drop the cage into the river, just to give them incentive ...