« Unconscionable | Main | Who Tube? »
July 23, 2007
You Tubular
Well, tonight was the much-awaited Democratic presidential You Tube debate, broadcast on CNN. Questions came via video, mostly from young people all over the country, and each candidate presented a 30-second You Tube style ad.
Questions ran the gamut, from Iraq, to health care, minimum wage, gay rights, the environment and Social Security. CNN's Anderson Cooper ran the show, and made a good show of trying to keep candidates on point responding to questions, rather than indulging their tendencies to meander to something they'd rather speechify about.
Despite the unusual format, however, the results didn't seem to differ much from previous debates. Though we remain firmly uncommitted to any candidate in the field, for our money Hillary Clinton continues to distinguish herself as the most polished and seasoned debater. Simply put, she knows her stuff and always hits her marks. None of the other contenders on the stage matched her consistency, though a few had their strong moments.
Barack Obama has improved his debate performance, but needs to get better still. His frequent return to a theme of bipartisanship and bringing the country together suggested to us he was aiming at those New Hampshire independents who may well be persuaded to vote in the Democratic primary there early next year. He clearly was the audience favorite in the Citadel College auditorium. Obama also took a few pointed shots at Hillary on supporting the Iraq War and failing to pass health care reform, and was sure to mention his "Christian faith", no doubt in response to those Muslim rumors that continue to fly around.
Joe Biden, particularly on the issue of Iraq, distinguished himself with tough-talking realism, but failed to connect with the audience in other ways. Chris Dodd was decent, if unexciting.
Both John Edwards and Bill Richardson again turned in mediocre performances. Neither of them seems to be able to hit on the issues really on folks' minds.
Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel reprised their roles of the unrealistic ideologue and the buffoon. They add a little color to these debates, but not much else.
So by our score, Hillary Clinton won the debate and held serve. We doubt, however, it will have much if any influence on how folks actually vote. The likeability problem persists for her.
Posted by houtopia at July 23, 2007 09:15 PM