The Debate : Obama wins but Clinton has the last word ... with class

Photo:AP

First of all, I came in half way into the debates, so I missed Jorge Ramos "espeekeng espanish". What did you all think? I'd so hit that 1000 days to Monday. Oh, and he's a fantastic anchorman and journalist.

I can see he dealt with the issue of immigration. When reading the transcript, I actually think both candidates were really great addressing the immigration issue.

Second, here's the link to the debate's transcript : The CNN Democratic presidential debate in Texas.

Third, moving along ...

Obama knocked it out of the park more times than Hillary, but she definitely had her moment at the end and, I have to give it to her, she closed the debate in a refreshingly classy note.

I think that the best Obama moment dealt with the issue of "silliness" in the recent rash of dirty politics :

OBAMA: Well, look, the -- first of all, it's not a lot of speeches. There are two lines in speeches that I've been giving over the last couple of weeks.

I've been campaigning now for the last two years. Deval is a national co-chairman of my campaign, and suggested an argument that I share, that words are important. Words matter. And the implication that they don't I think diminishes how important it is to speak to the American people directly about making America as good as its promise. Barbara Jordan understood this as well as anybody.

OBAMA: And the notion that I had plagiarized from somebody who was one of my national co-chairs...

(APPLAUSE)

... who gave me the line and suggested that I use it, I think, is silly, and...

(APPLAUSE)

... you know, this is where we start getting into silly season, in politics, and I think people start getting discouraged about it...

(LAUGHTER)

... and they don't want...

(APPLAUSE)

What they want is, how are we going to create good jobs and good wages?

How are we going to provide health care to the American people?

How are we going to make sure that college is affordable?

So what I've been talking about, in this speeches -- and I've got to admit, some of them are pretty good.

(APPLAUSE)

What I've been talking about is not just hope and not just inspiration. It's a $4,000 tuition credit for every student, every year, in exchange for national service...

(APPLAUSE)

... so that college becomes more affordable.

OBAMA: I've been talking about making sure that we change our tax code so that working families actually get relief. I have been talking about making sure that we bring an end to this war in Iraq so that we can start bringing our troops home and invest money here in the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

So just to finish up, these are very specific, concrete, detailed proposals, many of them which I have been working on for years now. Senator Clinton has a fine record. So do I. I'm happy to have a debate on the issues, but what we shouldn't be spending time doing is tearing each other down. We should be spending time lifting the country up.

Hands down, Clinton's shining moment was at the end. It's good to have the last word and you could see Obama wanting it, but he was wise to give it to Hillary. It was her moment to shine and she did :

CLINTON: Well, I think everybody here knows I've lived through some crises and some challenging moments in my life. And...

(APPLAUSE)

And I am grateful for the support and the prayers of countless Americans.

But people often ask me, "How do you do it?" You know, "How do you keep going?" And I just have to shake my head in wonderment, because with all of the challenges that I've had, they are nothing compared to what I see happening in the lives of Americans every single day. along with Senator McCain, as the only two elected officials, to speak at the opening at the Intrepid Center at Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio, a center designed to take care of and provide rehabilitation for our brave young men and women who have been injured in war.

And I remember sitting up there and watching them come in. Those who could walk were walking. Those who had lost limbs were trying with great courage to get themselves in without the help of others. Some were in wheelchairs and some were on gurneys. And the speaker representing these wounded warriors had had most of his face disfigured by the results of fire from a roadside bomb.

CLINTON: You know, the hits I've taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country.

And I resolved at a very young age that I'd been blessed and that I was called by my faith and by my upbringing to do what I could to give others the same opportunities and blessings that I took for granted.

That's what gets me up in the morning. That's what motivates me in this campaign.

(APPLAUSE)

And, you know, no matter what happens in this contest -- and I am honored, I am honored to be here with Barack Obama. I am absolutely honored.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Whatever happens, we're going to be fine. You know, we have strong support from our families and our friends. I just hope that we'll be able to say the same thing about the American people, and that's what this election should be about.

That's what a lot of people needed to hear. ¡Brava!

http://culturekitchen.com/liza/blog/the_debate_obama_wins_but_clinton_has_the_last_wor
Mouse over the text to select it, then press Ctrl-C to copy it.
No votes yet
About author

Liza Sabater is the founding blogger and publisher of culturekitchen and Daily Gotham. She also a new media producer and social technologist with 10 years experience. You can reach her at blogdiva [at] culturekitchen.com or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/blogdiva

liza's picture



Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
blog comments powered by Disqus ">
pops's picture

Time to poke the entrails of the chicken?

So do you think that her closing remarks were the rough draft for pulling out after Texas which is now a statistical dead heat?

Several people floated that one last night saying that she sounded alot like John Edwards on the day he announced his withdrawl.

I'm still kicking it around personally. Last night was another new episode of Lost and I can only handle so much conjecture at one time.

blog comments powered by Disqus ">
liza's picture

I think it all depends on the amount of money she'll have

and whether she wins Texas or not. The campaign is hurting financially and I think part of Mark Penn's delusion is that, allegedly, he hasn't gotten paid yet ... and his tab goes to the tune of millions of dollars.

Ouch.

blog comments powered by Disqus ">
JJ Ross's picture

The Best Six Words of All

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • You may link to webpages through the weblinks registry
  • You may post code using <code>...</code> (generic) or <?php ... ?> (highlighted PHP) tags.
  • Flash node macros can be added to this post.
  • Insert Flickr images: [flickr-photo:id=230452326,size=s] or [flickr-photoset:id=72157594262419167,size=m].
  • You may use [inline:xx] tags to display uploaded files or images inline.
  • Images can be added to this post.
  • Easily link to terms in various wikis. For help, see <a href="/interwiki/1">interwiki</a>.
  • Links to specified hosts will have a rel="nofollow" added to them.

  • You may post PHP code. You should include <?php ?> tags.
  • You may use <swf file="song.mp3"> to display Flash files inline
  • Textual smileys will be replaced with graphical ones.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • E-Mail addresses are hidden with reCAPTCHA Mailhide.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

User login

The Publisher
Liza Sabater

Daily servings of political dissent
culturekitchen

Grassroots News and
Activism for New Yorkers

Daily Gotham

Feminist Bloggers
Network

BlogSheroes

A new kind of vouyerism
Voogling

Art + Code + Philosophy
Potatoland.blog

Got any dirt, tips, leads or money for us? Then drop us a line or two at editors [at] culturekitchen [dot] com or use our general contact form to reach everybody in the editorial team ASAP.

Nibble daily on our brainy goodness with our daily syndication digest. You'll receive an email with a list and links to the previous day's posts.



Powered by FeedBlitz

Upcoming events

  • No upcoming events available

QUOTES

I am a First Amendment absolutist and I would like to read, amid the discussion of how the Delete key should be wielded, some more nuanced discusssion than I have seen on just where anyone believes the line should be drawn in censoring the Web, blogs or any other speech.

Certainly the words and images directed at Kathy are hateful and abhorrent. If a law has been broken, the accused should be prosecuted. Let's do keep in mind, however, that that person is the one who created and posted the words and images.

Beyond that, I don't see what can or should be done publicly. In case anyone hasn't noticed, anonymous abusers are not the sort of people who "own their words." There are bad people in the world. They do bad things. Bad things happen to good people.

And it multiplies the violation when good people respond in kind.

Poll