Debate Aftermath

I did not watch the Hillary/Obama debate last night, and from what I'm reading on the internets, I picked a good debate to miss.

But I did watch some excerpts from it, and then read some analysis, and this piece by Michael Grunwald of TIME Magazine is particularly good because Grunwald presents his debate analysis in the context of Obama's risky campaign approach, namely, his gamble that Americans are tired of manufactured issues (e.g., Dukakis in a tank, Kerry eating swiss cheese, George HW Bush looking at his watch during a debate etc.) being the driving force in our politics when the problems we are currently facing as a country are so horrendous:

Last night at the National Constitution Center, at a Democratic debate that was hyped by ABC as a discussion of serious constitutional issues, America got to see exactly what Obama was complaining about. At a time of foreign wars, economic collapse and environmental peril, the cringe-worthy first half of the debate focused on such crucial matters as Senator Obama's comments about rural bitterness, his former pastor, an obscure sixties radical with whom he was allegedly "friendly," and the burning constitutional question of why he doesn't wear an American flag pin on his lapel — with a single detour into Senator Hillary Clinton's yarn about sniper fire in Tuzla. Apparently, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos ran out of time before they could ask Obama why he's such a lousy bowler.

Grunwald also mentions the hysterical story about Obama's aide trying to stop Barack from asking for dijon mustard at TJI Fridays (I wonder if Obama ordered Freedom Fries with that burger?).

The moderators of last night's debate (who, by the way, were reportedly booed by the audience) are still living in the era where it matters what type of condiment politicians use on their hamburgers, and so are Bill and Hillary Clinton. Obama's trying to rise above that. I guess time will tell if his strategy will succeed, but I do think things are so bad right now that people will respond to this message. Indeed, the fact that Obama hasn't really been hurt by the Rev. Wright "scandal" or the "bitter" scandal seems to indicate that his campaign strategy might actually be working.

Well, enough of this political talk -- I'm off to Vegas for three days of craps, poker, and laying around by the pool.