Post-Debate Notes

Watched the Democratic debate from Iowa between bouts of dozing off today. While I do agree with Sen. Obama that there have been simply too many of these, I do find them to be of passing interest, as the candidates sharpen their messages for the fall. This appeared to be a Biden-Richardson debate, with the frontrunners largely in the background (Hillary in particular seemed barely present today, although she's figured out how to answer the lobbyist question. She says "it's a distinction without a difference" and hits the other candidates for taking money from executives who tell lobbyists what to do. Now, it's a completely absurd answer, because she takes cash from executives AND lobbyists, but in the context of a 60-second answer it sounds plausible).

I thought Edwards had a couple nice moments; one where he took the Hillary mantle away from her and said "the differences (on Iraq) between us are small; the differences between us and the Republicans are enormous. The Republican candidates are like George Bush on steroids," for example. Dodd continued to harp on his pet issues to great effect, although his "experience" angle rings hollow. We got some real back and forth on the "no residual forces" issue, with everyone being given a chance to respond, and Richardson still alone in his belief that everyone must go. I wish he was a better carrier of the message, asking firmly "what the hell are 50,000 troops going to do that 160,000 troops can't," but it's good to have this debate out in the open. Which is something Obama gets credit for saying, that the American people have a right to know what their government's foreign policy ideas are rather than hiding them away and leaving it to self-appointed experts.

I also think Gravel serves an important function, and that is to make Dennis Kucinich look reasonable and sane, and the consequences of that are to shift the entire debate more to the left, so I support his inclusion.

Overall Richardson helped himself because the questions were tailored toward his strengths and he never said "I'm a pro-growth Democrat" or some such nonsense.

UPDATE: The debate also had the appalling question "do you think prayer could have stopped Hurricane Katrina," which was seen as so deeply serious that every candidate was given the opportunity to answer it. Edwards and Biden had the courage to say, "Um, no," and Obama attacked it in a good way too, saying that, you know, levees that worked could have stopped the impact of Hurricane Katrina, investing in infrastructure could have stopped a bridge from collapsing, not holding hands in a prayer circle and willing magic into being.