Last Night's Debate

Tonight's MSNBC post-debate coverage of the first Democratic debate was a testament to the skill of the Clinton press operation. Somehow the Clinton press shop had convinced the talking heads that the issue of the night was whether Hillary Clinton could look like a credible Commander-in-Chief. In particular, the candidate would score a victory, said the Clinton room, if she could show she is the biggest hard-ass on military issues. Clearly, Hillary won this contest as she responded to the hypothetical question of a terrorist attack on two US Cities by saying she would retaliate. Therefore, the deep-thinkers lined up to offer their erudite insights, dutifully nodded and crowned her the winner! I am only amazed that the rings in their noses didn't show on camera.

I suppose that we all should take some solace in knowing that the Clinton press operation still knows how to frame an issue and manipulate the MSM. I recall the Clinton '92 press shop comparing the media to a deer -- if you want it to look somewhere else, flash a light in its eyes. I see that 15 years later the mainstream media is no smarter. The Clinton shop wanted to avoid the issue of Senator Clinton's vote supporting the war in Iraq. So they very cleverly framed the issue to avoid that question and at the same time appeared to be addressing the issue terrorism head on. The trouble is, when faced with an actual situation of deciding how to respond to an actual attack on the U.S., her response was vote was to invade Iraq. A large part of the democratic electorate as well as the country doesn't think that was such a smart move.

It is indeed amazing that Senator Obama was not more prepared to answer the terrorist attack question. Anticipating this question was a no-brainer and Senator Obama's hesitant and disconnected response was not heartwarming. Senator Edwards actually gave the most thoughtful response in saying that we fight the war on terror by regaining our stature as the moral leaders of the world -- after formulating an appropriate military response. Had the portion of his answer relating to the military retaliation been more detailed, he may have garnered the positive reviews the response actually deserved. And then again maybe not. The MSM seemed poised to speak almost exclusively about Clinton and Obama.

This is very reminiscent of the post-debate spin following the Gore/Bush debate that included Gore's now infamous sighs. Gore clearly won the debate. Howeve,r the Bush press shop pounded a way for 24 hours about Al Gore's respirations and presto-chango -- the story became how Gore lost to such an incompetent public speaker. There are differences now however, the major one being the existence of the blog community. The next few days will tell whether the bloggers weigh in to give their impression of whether Hillary was the winner of this debate and whether she has truly regained her stature as the inevitable democratic nominee.