Cleveland Democratic Debate – Ask not for whom the bell tolls

This was the 20th debate?

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama met in Cleveland for the 20th debate of this marathon 2008 primary season, and forum co-sponsor MSNBC couldn’t state it enough times – that these debates began in April of last year and since that time, six other Democrats have fallen from the race, and only these two were left standing.

To put things in perspective, Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln only debated seven times – so we’re at nearly three times that number, and there still isn’t much separating the two candidates in terms of delegates or issues. It just goes to show, not everything’s an improvement from the old days.

For better or most likely worse, we’re stuck with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the Democratic side, and listening to them drone on and on is getting truly monotonous.

The debate was held in Cleveland, Ohio, in a state that’s crucial to Hillary Clinton’s chances of staying in the race. Simply put, if Hillary doesn’t win here, it’s all over.

For that reason, Hillary was on the offensive most of the night, but her verbal jousting only made her look bad, exposing her likeability weaknesses when compared to the man who sat next to her, who always seems calm, confident and more presidential than her at every meeting.

Hillary’s frustration with her downward spiral is tangible, but at this point, there’s probably no stopping Obama. And this debate did little to alter the trend.

Hillary pulled out all the stops to make one last pitch, including putting some thought into her appearance. This time, Hillary wasn’t wearing any goofy suit collars, was well made up, and her hair was so well preserved that it looked not unlike the golden helmets on the flower-delivering messengers (like the Roman God, Mercury) on the old FTD commercials. The MSNBC cameras moved in for several close-ups, and she was wearing so much make-up that you almost wondered if it she was donning a mask like that in ‘Mrs. Doubtfire.’

Brian Williams and Tim Russert moderated the 90-minute forum, and did a solid job of posing good questions – which by and large, the candidates did their best to side-step -- except when it came to the healthcare issue.

As would be expected, the first question of the evening was addressed to Hillary Clinton, concerning her two-faced rhetoric of the past week. Hillary was plenty nice and conciliatory towards Obama in the previous debate held last Thursday night, proudly proclaiming what an ‘honor’ it was to have campaigned against him all these months.

Two days later she was raking him over the coals for a mailer that Obama’s campaign sent out, that she claimed wasn’t accurate – which produced sound-bites of ‘Shame on you Barack Obama,’ the old crone scolding Obama like a school child who’d just passed notes during study hall.

“His mailing is almost like the health insurance companies or the Republicans wrote it,” Hillary claimed – like Satan himself was responsible for the cards in people’s mailboxes.

Of course Hillary immediately tied her harsh rhetoric to healthcare, claiming, for the millionth time, that Obama’s plan wasn’t socialistic enough – that it wasn’t universal, and wouldn’t cover everyone. “Universal healthcare is a democratic value,” she said. What used to be somewhat cloaked, the Democrats are now emboldened to state plainly that healthcare is a fundamental right – like freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.

Oops – that last one doesn’t count for Democrats, it’s only in the Constitution.

Obama retorted that their plans were ‘95% similar,’ with the simple difference being that his didn’t contain a mandate for all individuals to buy coverage, and that Hillary’s plan was defective because there wasn’t any kind of enforcement mechanism for those who dared to exercise their economic freedom by not buying health insurance.

Hillary fired back that if FDR had made Social Security ‘optional,’ then nobody would’ve bought it (starting to sound pretty darn attractive, isn’t it?).

Hillary: ‘We’ll end up paying more in the long run because we’ll continue paying for those uninsured individuals who are clogging up our emergency rooms.’

Obama: ‘No we won’t, my plan will reduce costs, so people will be able to afford to buy coverage. Besides, our plans are virtually identical.’

Hillary: ‘No they’re not.’

Hillary: ‘No they’re not.’

At this point (sixteen minutes into the program) Brian Williams tried to interject, attempting to change the subject so these two, especially Hillary Clinton, would be forced to talk about something other than socialized healthcare.

She wouldn’t let it go. Somewhere in conference rooms across the country, the Clinton campaign brains have determined that healthcare is the lynchpin in their arsenal – and she’s fighting to keep it on the front page. If she acceded to Obama’s claims that their plans are similar (which it sounds like they are), then the entire race boils down to who’s more likeable, a contest that she’s losing badly.

It’s not exactly news, but Hillary’s personality doesn’t really warm people’s hearts. There’ve been far too many ‘I’m not at home baking cookies’ moments over the years for people to see her as anything other than an ambitious, skull crushing career woman.

She’s worked so hard to hone her masculine qualities in order to appear presidential that she’s completely lost touch with what it means, at least in America, to be a woman. Contrast Hillary Clinton with any number of conservative women and there’s no comparison – her only core constituency is female liberals, and there aren’t enough of them to make a difference.

The American public just doesn’t trust her, and she keeps providing more reasons why she can’t be trusted. When asked if she would release her tax returns, she said she would do so if she’s the nominee, ‘or maybe before.’ Then she again said that they’re working hard to release her records as first lady at the Clinton library – and deflected blame to the bureaucracy.

Everything about her exudes sleeze – no wonder she’s sinking like a stone in the polls.

At the end of the debate, Hillary even brought up the ‘I would be the first woman president’ line again, which is one of the few perceived crutches that she’s using to differentiate herself from Obama. She tries so hard to be like a man, yet wants to be seen as a woman.

People don’t get her (and they don’t want to), and that’s why she’s losing.

Can I have some cheese with your whine?

In one of the strangest moments of the debate, Hillary was asked a question about NAFTA – and instead of answering (or ducking it, as usual), she said “I keep getting the first question on all the issues,” then referred to a Saturday Night Live skit that lampooned that the media was treating Obama too lightly.

She’s been trying, for months, to claim that the media has been giving Obama unfairly light treatment – but it looks downright helpless to bring up that fact in what is most likely the final Democratic debate.

She put on her best doe-eyed face to make the assertion – why are you being so mean to me? How dare you ask me a difficult question first!

John McCain in the room?

Both candidates made special efforts to begin a potential general election fight against John McCain. Listening to Hillary and Obama, you’d think that John McCain was the second coming of Ronald Reagan – he’s too conservative, he’s wrong on all the issues, he only supports the wealthy and he’s a slave to special interests.

They’re starting to make McCain sound pretty attractive, and I’m sure McCain was smiling at the very mention of his name – because it means more money pouring into his campaign chest.

The Democrats don’t care that McCain is no conservative, mostly because these two are die-hard, unapologetic liberals – and their presence on the Democratic ticket is the only thing that might motivate conservatives to vote for McCain.

Obama was asked about his readiness to assume the role of Commander-in-Chief, and he again brought up McCain’s quote about potentially being in Iraq for ‘a hundred years.’ 

The Democrats will push hard against McCain’s undying support for the Iraq War, which could end up being the single largest difference between the candidates in the fall. They’re basically right on one point – that McCain’s position on Iraq is just about the same as the Bush Administration’s. If the Iraqis don’t make noticeable progress, Obama will certainly be able to tie McCain to Bush – and that’s not a comparison that will win many friends, or votes.

NAFTA – Do you like it, or not?

One of the few areas where Hillary and Obama appear to have any real difference is concerning their past support for NAFTA.

Tim Russert read several of Hillary’s past statements, where she supported NAFTA because it was one of the few areas where her husband was able to work with free-trade Republicans to get something accomplished.

But now, faced with her union constituents breathing down her back, she’s against it. It was a crucial moment in the debate, one that exposed Clinton for who she is – an opportunistic politician who will say anything at anytime to make herself look good. The woman has no principles.

It doesn’t matter where they originally stood on the issue -- both ended up saying that NAFTA would have to be ‘re-negotiated,’ or they’d pull the US out of the agreement.

Then they both started talking about creating jobs, how they’d invest in ‘Green collar’ jobs which would supposedly get people to work building solar panels and windmills. This is a point that keeps coming up for the Democrats, and one wonders what this country will look like if the Democrats ever realize their ‘green’ fantasies. The old political slogan used to be ‘a chicken for every pot’ – and now it’s a ‘windmill for every rooftop.’

Are people really buying this? Probably not – but Hillary and Obama won’t make them buy it, anyway. They’ll open up the federal treasury in order to put people to work, filling the country with ‘green technology.’ It’s a scary proposition.

Is the bell tolling on Hillary?

At the end of the debate, Brian Williams asked the candidates to make a ‘closing statement.’ Hillary again said that it’s been an honor to run against Obama, but that she’ll still “do everything I can to win.”

Then she said, again, that real change is represented by the fact that she’d be the first woman president. If that’s it… then there’s not much else to say.

Obama followed with more of his pleasant-sounding rhetoric about ‘change.’ He said his experience provides insight into how to make those ‘changes.’ If that means that spending some time as a young lawyer on the streets of Chicago, a stint in the Illinois legislature and a few years in the US Senate is what guides him, it could get very interesting with an Obama presidency – if that’s the ‘change’ we can expect.

As the candidates made their final statements, then took time afterwards to sign autographs for their admirers, you could feel a sense of finality in the event that was given away by their differing body language. Hillary was stiff as always, Obama was loose and confident.

This was probably Hillary’s last shot to change people’s minds, and she simply didn’t do it. The bell is tolling on her chances to become president – it’s nearly midnight, she’s got a long ways to go, and her carriage is about to turn into a pumpkin.

And nobody cares if she falls on her face.