There's no doubt that Barack Obama is taking a beating on his foreign policy goof-up during the YouTube debate. The longest sequence of the debate today was a series of questions to all of the other candidates on whether Obama was qualified to lead the country. Most of them politely skirted the issue.
Another interesting exchange, a few of the candidates ganged up on Hillary for her stance on accepting money from lobbyists. Hillary's view is essentially, "I'm qualified enough to know which groups are good, and which are bad. I will not accept money from the bad ones." But the others have a point. All lobbying groups have the potential to be bad. Hillary has enough money from private donors to get rid of them all. And she should do it.
Bill Richardson put in a solid performance today, managing to talk about how he would not impose his faith on the American people, that he loved his wife, and that he has the most experience out of any of the candidates.
Joe Biden and Chris Dodd fall into the same catagory in my mind. Experienced but unexciting. Both a little angry and indignant. Yeah, indignant is the perfect word to describe them.
Kucinich is in a category of his very own. He's like a harbinger. He's usually right about things. We shouldn't have trusted Bush about the war. We shouldn't have authorized the Patriot Act. We shouldn't continue to fund the war. We should have single payer universal health care. The insurance companies are responsible for the failed health care system we currently have. He has the courage to speak the truth, but not the subtle skill of persuation. He is a banging gong. Everyone hears him, but they walk by and ignore him. It's too bad, but Kucinich should get out of the race. He's not dead last, but close.
Edwards is still in the thick of the race here in Iowa. He put in a solid performance today, and that should bode well for his support in the state. He needs to start raising more money.
Hillary looked very nice in her tan suit today, in stark contrast to the boring blue suits worn by her counterparts. During one long back-and-forth, the rest of the field and Stephanopoulos talked about her like she wasn't even there. "Would a Clinton nomination drag down the ticket?" All of the gentlemen candidates avoided answering the question directly, instead turned attention to themselves. But I got the sense that they were just trying not to sound negative. Let's face it, they'll all be endorsing her soon, so they'd better remain positive if they want to be invited to the White House for State dinners.
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