The first half of the CNN Black Caucus Democratic Debate Monday night started out like the heavyweight boxing match of the century. I couldn't wait for the second half to start when the host (Wolf Blitzer) stated the "rules" will be dropped.
Probably the best shot from Obama came when he responded to criticism from statements made earlier by Bill Clinton. Obama implied confusion over which Clinton he was running against, Hillary or Bill. The expectations of a cage match never materialized for the second half. Fortunately, they returned to a more civilized approach. Edwards could easily have taken a side and participated in the Clinton/Obama brawl and to his credit, he did not.
John Edwards scored a few points when he caught Obama on his "no" vote on interest-rate ceiling legislation for credit cards. Obama said he didn't vote for it because 30% wasn't low enough, which is true....except that the only alternative at the time was "no ceiling."
Like most democratic bloggers, I’ve being watching the three democrats slug it out for the presidential nomination all this time just waiting for those key moments to help split them apart from one another. Through it all my top choice has been John Edwards, he has been consistently on message. Instead of launching platitudes and latitudes from a by-gone era, Edwards has plans, and they are the future. At the same time, Barack Obama has been swaying me more and more towards his bold ideas and views…..up until the Reagan trajectory comment he made a few days ago.
"Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not, and a way that Bill Clinton did not," he said, describing Reagan as appealing to a sentiment that, "We want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."Obama's response to these comments during the debate seemed oddly unsatisfactory for his style. At first I didn't think too much of his trajectory comment because all trajectories are not “up.” But it also worries me that any presidential candidate, particularly a democrat, would draw parallels of their campaign and expectations of optimism to the Reagan presidency.
The other thought here was, perhaps Obama only meant Reagan transformed his party or policies in a way nobody else did, to which I would agree. But Obama did say “the trajectory of America,” in a positive way. Reagan began the shadow government movement, environmental and workplace deregulation, ushered in the religious right and trickle-down economics, stagflation, inflation and deflation, expanded imperialism, fueled class warfare, promoted privatization and busted labor unions. America has never been quite the same after Reagan.
There is just no way to spin Obama's remarks in his defense, and no way do I want the next president to achieve the office based on the destiny of a Reagan-like trajectory. Obama’s "Reagan" statement along with his inadequate response separated him from the other two contenders and unfortunately I no longer consider his message challenging enough for the status quo.
For me, the race is still too close to call. I like all three candidates but if I had to vote today in the Democratic primary, my choice would be John Edwards, and that won't change unless something hugely dramatic happens.Read Obama's speech from S. Carolina here coming four days after this post. If you see what I see, it's kinda' creepy.
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