Redstate

Posted at 2:16am on Feb. 27, 2008 The Clinton-Obama Debate: Turn Out The Lights/The Party's Over

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

I only caught some of the debate, but it was a disaster for Hillary Clinton. She skipped over questions that discomforted her--and boy, were there a lot of them. She was tedious, exhibiting an instinct for the capillaries that had to have had her supporters cringing in agony. Was it really worth it to whine about how she got the first question and then bring up the Saturday Night Live about the media showing favoritism towards Obama? To be sure, the skit was right and Hillary Clinton had reason to complain, but if she didn't actually believe that she would come out of that exchange looking badly, she has learned nothing whatsoever from her time on the campaign trail.

Equally horrible was the comment about how she just doesn't have time to release her taxes, or that Barack Obama was not sufficiently anti-anti-Semitic when he said that he "denounced" Louis Farrakhan as opposed to "rejecting" Farrakhan. Really, the whole thing was pathetic beyond measure. I know that it is common practice to believe that Hillary Clinton is The Smartest Woman In The World, or something along those lines. But her side of the debate looked clumsy, amateurish and dumb beyond measure.

Meanwhile, Obama was cool, confident, comfortable in his own skin and looked like a winner. I take no joy in writing that because I would much rather have John McCain face Hillary Clinton in the general election; it would be a far easier campaign for McCain to win, after all. But despite my earlier confidence that somehow, someway, Hillary Clinton would find a way to pull through, it is obvious that it's just not going to happen. One way or the other, Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee.

And Republicans will be in for an epic battle. Don't believe me? Then read this. No, Barack Obama is not Ronald Reagan. But he stands to profit from being underestimated by his foes just as Reagan did. Perhaps someone would want to see to it that such a luxury is denied Obama.

Assuming that Republicans want to win, of course.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Democratic Presidential Nomination | Fat Lady | Hillary Clinton | Warming Up — Comments (51)/ Email this page » / Read More »