Iowa Democratic Debate

December 13, 2007 in 2008 election, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Edwards, democrats
Tags: barack, clinton, debate, democrats, dodd, economy, gravel, hillary, iowa, iraq, kucinich, obama

Ahh, a little civility.  But no respect for Kucinich.

The Democrats, for the most part, managed to pull off something the Republicans simply couldn’t, which is put forward their ideas for America while actually answering the questions posed to them and doing it within the time limits imposed by the debate format and while maintaining respect for both the moderator and their opponents.  It made for some staggeringly unimpressive viewing, but it’s pretty clear which side is more in control of their messaging, their campaigns, and the election process in general.

Like yesterday’s Republican debate, the focus was explicitly off of Iraq because the moderator said so, based on Iowa voters’ supposed lack of interest.  Hmm.  They moved on instead to another failure of the current administration, that of the economy and each laid out their plan for dealing with all of the challenges facing America.  Edwards was particularly galling with his single-minded focus on corporate interests, which, don’t get me wrong, are pervasive and need to be tamed, but I think Edwards came off as particularly shrill and evasive in dealing with other issues.  Clinton and Obama were both solid and uninspiring but provided a little fun with some brief sniping at each other.  Dodd was actually pretty powerful, very well-spoken and forceful.  Some may say he veered toward Gravel’s brand of debating (speaking of whom, where was he?), but he came across to me more strong, less ranting.  The moderator was more sure of herself this time, perhaps due to the respect given by the candidates unlike yesterday’s sometimes shocking childishness by the Republicans.  Many of the questions seemed uncomfortably couched in Republican phraseology and specific talking points, but that could just be my point of view.  There was one bizarre diatribe by the moderator referring to racial problems with Biden’s speech in the past which he batted down well and was supported with applause by the rest of the candidates.  Obama, who was the recipient of one of Biden’s supposedly indelicate remarks, defended Biden well against the awkward and ridiculous attack.

As before you can check out the whole debate at the Des Moines Register.