Debate: So much for Obama not being tough enough

[knowledgeispwr]

Like him or not, agree with him or not, I think we can put the whole "Obama is too weak to fight the smear machine" idea to rest from tonight's debate.

Thoughts?

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Wrong - he's not strong enough

Totally flustered and inexperienced looking tonight.

[1corona4u]

10. He was totally rattled...

you could see it on his face....not a good poker player I bet either.

[knowledgeispwr]

14. different perspectives

He didn't look rattled to me, just defending himself against attacks.

[1corona4u]

26. Of course not....

his supporters have a hard time seeing through that rose colored glass.

[knowledgeispwr]

29. I'm not an Obama supporter. eom

[Proud2BAmurkin]

15. He was knocked onto the ropes in the first five minutes and never came back

[frankenforpres]

2. i disagree

i didnt think he stayed calm under fire

[Colobo]

3. He came to fight, and showed Hillary he won't take crap from her and Bill.

[OhioChick]

6. He Sure Did. n/t

[GalleryGod]

12. The Clinton's must feel like George Foreman in Zaire.

And....Bill ain't No Brother.

[Windy]

4. He was very calm under fire and forceful. He fought back well and hard.

Hillary appeared desparate in the first half. Made some stupid assertions that will haunt the campaign.

[GalleryGod]

5. Pourin' water all over hill/Bill's Scmokin' !

[ProSense]

7. A lot of people

here agree that Obama won the battle.

[babylonsister]

21. Wow, that poll is amazing!

:woohoo: :woohoo:

[dkf]

25. DailyKos is Obama territory. DU is Edwards territory.

JMHO.

[knowledgeispwr]

30. I always thought DailyKos was more pro-Edwards

:shrug:

[Cha]

32. That's nice..thanks Prosense!

Why are some people here on DU saying things about Obama's performance tonight like..that he "crumbled"? Is it really just a different perception or are they lying to make their candidate look better?

[Sparkly]

8. I think he was knocked a bit off-balance tonight.

Looked to me like Clinton was in control and took the debate where she wanted it to go, and I don't think he was ready for it.

[GalleryGod]

16. Like her pathetic defense of her Hubby's insinuation into her campaign?

That was a remarkable politcal moment...


No doubt folks were watching in Hyannis Port,too

[Sparkly]

20. Her camp wants to keep him out there.

She's not going to apologize for him. The best she could do was liken him to the other candidates' spouses, and she did.

[GalleryGod]

24. I fervently HOPE they do...because here is Billy's WORST nightmare...

Coming to an OBAMA rally soon,before Feb. 5th

[pstans]

9. Obama did a great job deflection attacks

He took them on head on and was tough.

[jefferson_dem]

11. He took her best punches and was still standing tall.

She loses.

[THUNDER HANDS]

13. he took on Hillary and Edwards and did quite well

I don't think he was expecting Hillary to hit him this hard early on, but once he regained his footing, he hit back really well.

[Zhuk]

17. I think he came off as petty and unwilling to take criticism

I don't think he will be strong enough to win the general election, look at how he was unable to take any critique of his voting record or previous history, he would better serve the Democratic party as a Vice Presidential candidate after tonight

[Renew Deal]

18. Clyburn said that the campaign will make him tougher.

I gained a lot of respect for him tonight.

[rufus dog]

19. I believe those without a horse in the race

Will see it as he took the best they had to offer and remained composed. Never did he come across as flailing like hillary did with Rezo. He could have attached with HSU, but he isn't divisive.

[OneGrassRoot]

22. As an Edwards supporter, for whom Obama's "toughness" has been a concern...

here is my take:

I liked that he was showing more intensity in this debate, but then it started to come across as rather uncontrolled anger (obviously, just my impression...others view it differently.) It made me nervous as I watched, trying to picture each as our nominee.

He certainly rebounded in the second half though. And he has a great sense of humor.

What makes me uncomfortable is how very much he tries to be inclusive...trying at this stage of the primary to target crossover voters. Long-term that is certainly necessary, but at this stage my impression is that it muddies the waters of his message a bit. He ends up having to clarify too much of what he's said...walking a fine line between crafting a message for potential crossover votes versus progressive democrats.

I wonder how wise of a strategy it is when he ends up having to expend so much energy clarifying what he means. Hardcore Obama supporters certainly understand and support what he says, but for others some of what he says raises concerns.

I think all three are great candidates. And strong. I don't dislike any of them, I simply favor Edwards. Tonight showed why.

[knowledgeispwr]

31. Thanks for a thoughtful and rational response

Although I disagree about Obama seeming uncontrollably angry, I appreciate your earnest reply. Responses like yours seem harder and harder to find lately.

:hi:

[OneGrassRoot]

46. As are kind responses such as yours....

Thanks, knowledgeispwr!

:hi:

[Califooyah Operative]

23. Indeed.

We saw a fighter tonight and I think a lot of people can appreciate that. He took fire from both sides and handled it very well and got some good shots in himself. The crowd obviously liked it too.

[Samantha]

27. He absolutely HAD to stand up for himself or he would have

ended up as political road kill.

The name of the game in politics is the same as it is in competitive volleyball. Find your opponent's weakest spot and continually hit it. Obama's "weakest" spot is in his civility. He has proclaimed from the start that he wanted to run a clean campaign. How does one play a clean game in the dirtiest of sports? And so his primary opponent, sensing his greatest weakness was simply in his quest to stay on the high road, delivered, and continues to deliver, many roundhouse serves, sometimes simply attempting to hit the back line, but overestimating where that line was drawn, and often sending the ball out of bounds.

The frustration in Obama has clearly been building for some time. He finally reached a point where he had to lay down and die or start to hit back. Tonight he clearly showed he could hit back, but doing so cleanly dealing with sheer facts. At times, there was slight hesitation, but recovery soon followed. It is a game of nerve, afterall.

Hillary Clinton encountered many situations where she had to "dig" the ball from hitting the ground. At times, he clearly put her on the defensive. During moments when she tried to prematurely take the ball back from him, he fought her for it, and he held on to it.

Some have speculated the Clintons were merely baiting him, a maneuver known on the volleyball court as faking the opponent out. Whether the hits were political bait or sporting fake, he met them and returned them back over the net. He remains in the game.

His opponents will now have to scout his next weakest spot? Does he have one?

[sandnsea]

28. He showed he is willing to take on the both of them

bloody them up and spit them out. He did great and exposed her as a liar.

[Cha]

33. Pray tell how did Obama

expose her as a liar?

[sandnsea]

34. He debunked every "factual inaccuracy"

Otherwise known as a lie. I think it was clear when he said he cast 4,000 votes and she was picking out a few to distort. On the single payer distortion. On his leaving people out of health care when he's clearly opposing mandates. Every single time she launched an attack, it was proven that she was not being factually correct, or lying.

[Cha]

35. Good..I'm so glad he was

on his game..this needed to be done..Thanks, sandnsea!

Sounds like hilary was trying to Gotcha with their smear talking points and Obama was REA-DY.

[BringBigDogBack]

36. agree.

[question everything]

37. And, like Bush, when all else failed, invoke Jesus Christ (nt)

[Quixote1818]

40. It's called knowing your audience.

You won't see that line much outside the south. Brilliant move on Obama's part though I agree I don't care for it either. Still I think he was smart to do it there.

[Quixote1818]

38. Obama reminded me of the nice honor student at school who finally realized

how disgusting, ruthless and dishonest politicians can be. He looked pissed off in the same way Bill Clinton was pissed off at Chris Wallace during the FOX interview but new he needed to keep his cool. He was clearly disgusted and pissed off and Hillary looked like Chris Wallace with that "smug looking smile thinking she was so clever."

[MagsDem]

39. I thought he looked like a complete wuss

Everytime he was attacked he complained he was being misrepresented. He's looked like he couldn't handle being pressed to explain his positions, past votes, etc. I think Clinton ate him for lunch, and I don't think he'll get the nomination but if he did, I think it's very unlikely he can make it through the general election without looking like a whiney, spineless, wussy.

[Quixote1818]

41. Wow, someone had a bad day at the office.

It's OK, Hillary will do better next time. :rofl:

[MagsDem]

43. I think she did well, but Edwards won it

BTW, I'm an Edwards supporter. My take on Obama has been the same for several months now. I am sick to death of him acting like he's running for 6th grade class president. There is no whiny crying in politics, and he needs to figure that out. Amazing to me that he seems to get worse about it everyday rather than better.

My final complaint about him -- the thing that truly disgusted me tonight was his pretending he barely knows Rezko even though they have had a nearly 20 yr relationship. His "I only did 5 hrs of work for him" BS was just a blatant lie. He's an embarrassment to the Dem party, IMO, and he acts like his resume reads... like a state senator who has a lot of growing up to do.

[Quixote1818]

45. I am an Edwards supporter too.

:hi:

[BenDavid]

42. Thoughts..HRC handed obama his ass a couple of times and

he looked with disbelief a few times she went after him. Now maybe the mediawhore will take a look see at what the hell obama is really running on....

I caught obama a few times tonight looking around the stage area. WHo was he looking for? Bill Clinton has got inside the psyche of Obama and it was clear tonight and HRC sure made him sound incoherent a few times.....

Obama did good but over all it was edwards show becasue he did not let hrc off the hook nor did he obama....but hrc was playing to the national audience in those 2/5 states and she made her case on several points.....Yes Obama will win Saturday but this will be his last win other then illinois as HRC goes on to win the nomination......

[MagsDem]

44. The biggest Obama wuss moment....

... when he kept looking to Wolf Blitzer to save him when Hillary was blistering his ass. That was truly pathetic. He is soooooooooooo not ready for the hardball of presidential politics.

[rndmprsn]

47. Obama really impressed me...

he showed grace and dignity under pressure...hillary was tough as nails, make no mistake, but Obama showed to me last night that he can dish it out AND take it...he counter punched VERY effectively IMHO.

NOW he needs to tighten up and shorten his sometimes very long and meadering responses...aside from that he did very well for himself.

BUT, it was Edwards who really connected with me last night

[knowledgeispwr]

48. I agree

I also thought Edwards did a very good job of taking advantage of the back and forth between Clinton and Obama, not the mention to fact that the media is actually talking about him now. It'll be interesting to see how the primary turns out.

[jackson_dem]

49. He did prove he is tough enough in the debate. I will give him that