I think Hillary does have more experience and knows how to play the game better, but I think if she is president she will continue to polarize the country. Barack appeals more to both sides of the aisle and is less political, but I am not convinced he has the experience to lead from the get go. Policy wise, I think they are the same.
None of that answers your question, what am I looking for. If I learned one thing from the debate tonight, no need to actually answer the question you are asked. 
He does have a cold.
Actually, Obama has more Legislative experience than Hillary (11 years to her 7). You might find this KOS diary interesting; I refuse to buy into the Obama hype.
Obama has improved tremendously. He is confident and precise. Clinton knows it’s over. She will concede unless she wins big in Texas and Ohio. I am extremely confident that Obama will beat McCain. We have a winner. Go Blue Team, Go!
Since you bring that up, abbeytxs, what was your feeling for the audience’s response to Hillary’s evasiveness? For example, when asked about her position regarding wasteful pork barrel spending, she responded by saying Bush wasted money on tax cuts and the war. When asked about her feelings regarding the possibility of super delegates swinging the nomination to the candidate with fewer popular votes, she more or less waved it away, saying that ‘they’ have their rules and the ‘party would field a nominee’, etc.
Also, I felt she looked peeved and annoyed all the way through most of Obama’s comments and didn’t get the feeling at all that she was getting ready to throw in the towel. Would you say it was the feeling in the auditorium that she was laying the groundwork to drop out of the race soon?
Awesome.
I didn’t get to see the debate because of the time difference here, but after watching a few clips on Yahoo! I’m kind of surprised she even mentioned the plagiarism thing. It didn’t really do any good the first time, so why harp on it some more. The audience hissed at her for it, what did she expect.
I guess I’m less inclined to think better of Hill than most. I don’t think she’s quite given up. Going negative wasn’t getting any traction so obviously she’s not going to go into attack mode during the debate. If and when she drops out of the race, then maybe I’ll be ready to think better of her.
The moderators asked them about it, so she was kind of forced to bring it up again.
I didn’t get any feelings for how the audience viewed her evasiveness. Other than the hissing at her during the plagerism question, people were very quiet and respectful when either candidate was speaking. I was surrounded by Barack supporters, but the only way I knew that was that they clapped a little louder when he spoke then when she did.
I tried to listen to people’s comments as we were leaving the auditorium. People mostly were talking about who they thought “won” the debate, which candidate made a stronger point, etc. I didn’t hear or feel anything about her appearing to be throwing in the towel until I got home and started watching the talking heads on the news shows.
She’s well known for “standing by her man”.
If and when defeat appears inevitable for HRC, I’d expect a gracious-appearing exit.
It’s never too early to start planning for '12 or '16. 
Overall I thought they both acquitted themselves well and made quality points. I think Clinton made the right choice with the mostly-positive tone, although she never did manage to square that tone with what she’s been saying over the last few days. The plagiarism thing didn’t work - she wasn’t successful at pretending it was an important point and Obama dealt with it effectively. If they were on neutral footing in the race, I don’t think this would change anything, and I don’t think it will slow Obama down. Her closing remarks were magnanimous, but I wouldn’t read them as an early concession speech.
This is the first “debate” I’ve seen this cycle, and must say I really liked this format a lot better than what has passed as “debates” in previous elections.
I was impressed on the burden any woman has compared to any man. With a guy, there is no question about his clothing, make-up, jewelry. Not that it should be relevant, but just it must be harder for a woman, than a man who just needs to slap on a dark suit.
I’m an Obama fan, and this pretty much confirmed my thinking. As usual, Obama strikes me more as communicating what he believes, and speaking common sense, whereas Clinton always gives me the impression she is guaging the political impact of her words. I thought her smile often seemed forced. I guess I just find Obama mor genuine.
I really liked what he said about meeting with Cuba. Boy, they both enjoyed whomping on the current admin.
Just wondering, what was the deal with the fan blowing their papers? And I thought the photo shoot at the beginning was pretty bush.
I noticed that too- Obama seemed to use his pen a bit to try to hold his notebook together. My guess is that it’s hotter than snot under those TV lights and they’re just trying to keep them as comfortable as possible.
I agree. I don’t see her giving up yet. That’s not like her.
I finally pinpointed the reason why I suspect Hillary turns off a lot of people, personality-wise. She is often called stone-faced but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. She actually smiles too much. And the thing is, it’s not a warm, happy, pleasant smile. It’s a smug, backstabby, dead-eye smile.
Honestly, I think this smile of hers is why her attacks come off so badly. It makes her look like a villain even when her barbs are fairly mild. When your opponent is trying to defend himself–and you know everyone sees him as a “nice guy”–and you’re sitting there cheshiring like Joker from Batman, ain’t no one gonna like your ass, Hillary! Why has no one pointed this out to her? And if they have, why hasn’t she listened to them?
Bush has some of the same problems with his body language. He smirks inappropriately, he slouches when he stands at the podium, he does strange things with his face. Call me superficial, but I think these little things matter a lot when we’re talking about a president.
All in all, though, I think there were no breakthroughs with this debate. I think Obama did a better job with Cuba, even though he did some waffling there with “preconditions” and “preparations”. I liked Hillary’s “war on science” spiel, even though she got a little carried away when the audience clapped and bulldozed right over Campbell Brown. I actually think Obama came out on top on healthcare because he pointed out that Hillary’s “mandate” is really about “mandating” that people buy insurance or face penalties. Hillary looked a fool with the Xerox bit, but she saved some face at the end.
In all I see her as beginning to take the high road* and trying to lessen any hurt she is going to put on the party by slamming Obama. I think she may have realized this last night, that people really enjoy Obama, and truly want him to be the next president. Of course the staunch HRC supporters are not going to waiver and are going to call on her to stick it out but unless she wins by a landslide she’s toast.
*my comment about a shot turkey still holds, she’s still dangerous until she’s conceeded.
It just had media consultant/focus group stamped all over it. I can almost hear the conversation…“Senator, this plagiarism thing has traction. We can win with it…we just need a hook, a sound byte, and we’ll be all over the 24 hour news and the late nite talk show hosts will jump all over it…“Change You Can Xerox”. It’s gold…we’ve got the the polling to prove it. You gotta work it into the debate.”
Bzzzt. Thanks for playing. Fire your media consultant.
Thank you.
Is America really ready for a President with a cold? And if he’s surrendered to an invading rhinovirus, what does that say about his ability to defend our nation against hostile threats? What other diseases might he be infected with? If we condone the sort of behavior that leads to viral infection, what message does that send to our children? Tough questions that deserve answers.
Oh god, then the next thing you know we’ll get someone with Polio in the office! :eek:
…or a hangnail.