As Dem John Edwards gets a shot in the arm today with a major union endorsement by the NH chapter of the SEIU, it’s worth pondering if only for a moment last night’s Dem semi-debate in Philadephia -- which was most certainly not a city of sisterly or brotherly love for Hillary Clinton. MSNBC moderators Brian Williams and Tim Russert did their best to stir things up from the beginning by lobbing Barack Obama an anti-Clinton set up pitch (one his advisors had begged for publicly the past few days) that turned into a living room conversation act. But it was just the beginning for Hillary and the others weren’t so accommodating. The MSNBC boys kept at it and gave the other Dems every chance to throw punch after punch at Hillary. For her part, Hillary stood tough but her rope-a-dope strategy of taking the hits and coming back for more (and even referring to her rivals as friends) revealed a potential fatal weakness -- someone who can win an election but may have trouble governing, a point brought home no so kindly by the interrogation firm of Edwards, Obama, Dodd, and Biden (Gov. Bill Richardson stood out by not jumping on the anti-Hillary bandwagon and Rep. Dennis Kucinich was as usual in his own orbit and deserves an award for bring up impeaching George bush and talking about UFOs during a single show ). She looked equal parts in control and on the defensive and she went out of her way to be so very careful that someone new to the race might wonder just what she stands for. Her explanations about Iran, releasing her White House records and New York’s immigration policy left her debating herself at times.
Her main calling card seemed to be that the Republican candidates are “obsessed” with her which is both true and a strange insertion. Anybody paying attention the past 15 years knows all too well it’s less her policy positions (which are as mainstream as can be) than her simple existence that, quite unfairly I might add, make her a target of the “obsessed” GOP candidates. Chris Dodd brought it up that, in his estimate, half the country wouldn’t vote for her or doesn’t like her. If anything, last night’s scuffle showed, the Dem race is anything but a coronation even though Clinton remains the main attraction. In my daily link, John Dickerson of Slate gives his take on the best debate of the bunch so far.
No surprise that Joe Biden won line of the night with his zinger about the Mayor of 9/11, Rudy Giuliani. When sizing up the qualifications issue, Biden said: "And the irony is, Rudy Giuliani, probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency, is here talking about any of the people here. Rudy Giuliani... I mean, think about it! Rudy Giuliani. There's only three things he mentions in a sentence -- a noun, a verb, and 9/11. There's nothing else! There's nothing else! And I mean this sincerely. He's genuinely not qualified to be president."
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