Am I the only one who thinks Hillary wiped the floor with Barack Obama last night? And concede? Are you nuts? She didn’t concede. She did exactly what I told her to do, via telepathy transmitted through my tinfoil antenna. Of course, I’m just an average American voter, not an “expert” political pundit so maybe I just have no idea how to interpret what I’m actually seeing with my own eyes but, to me, she was the very epitome of Grace Under Pressure. And in performing so well, she pointed out *his* incredible immaturity.
And I have read a lot of people who say his debate performances have improved. I’m sorry. Those people are being too kind. Most of them still acknowledge his answers are rambling and unfocussed. I know what her point is when she’s done. But when *he’s* done, I’m still working my way out of the last prepositional phrase.
Voters know she’s down. They know she’s lost a slew of primaries and caucuses. But until you see it in person, with them sitting side-by-side, it’s just like the evening news. It’s bits of statistics and soundbites and momentum. How many people went into that auditorium thinking they preferred one candidate and came out preferring the other? That’s what happened to me at YearlyKos07 when I thought I was supporting John Edwards and was so impressed by Hillary Clinton that she became my choice. You can fake a lot of stuff but you can’t fake fluidity. You either know it or you don’t. You are confident with the material or you’re not. You are either a fully developed candidate or you’re immature.
The last bit was debate magic. And unlike his use of Deval Patrick’s carefully scripted and specific references, her comments were of a more general nature. I could have written that myself. There was a universality about it. Jeez, no one, except maybe her husband, has ever taken so much abuse. Were there better words for her to use than the ones she had?
Does the pinacle get much higher for anyone? There is only one position on a professional level that is higher than the one she presently occupies. She’s married to a frickin’ ex-president. For all of the other women of the world, it does not get any higher. She has gone beyond what all other women have achieved politically. She is living in a world that many of us can not imagine. But her world won’t fall to pieces if she loses. She’s still got the money to pay the rent. She says that the election is not about the two people on the stage. It is not a popularity contest or a fight to the death. It is about a committment to pubic service.
Then she shook his hand. It wasn’t a concession. That was an in-your-face “I’m not going to let you or the media or the cocky bravado of your delusional fans make me cower in your presence.” It doesn’t surprise me that the media want to cast the handshake as a concession. They desperately want her to go away so they can move to the next phase of their manipulation of the election.
But it looked like she confidently stepped right up and shook his hand. One wonders if the shoe were on the other foot whether he would mature enough to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and do the same towards her. “It is an honor to be sharing the stage”. Yes, it is. For him. And now, everybody knows it.
Oh, and Josh Marshall is full of it.
Filed under: General | Tagged: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, lyin' eyes., Texas debate
Well said. I agree completely. Except, I don’t wonder about what would have occurred if the shoe were on the other foot. BO has demonstrated time and time again that he does not have the grace and maturity to do the same.
She was great. She was just great.
wow…WOW….I felt tha same way. You echo my sentiments exactly.
Her point about plagerism is well expressed. Has anyone noticed how he uses her exact same words when he goes second or rebuts when the questions are asked…..he does it so automatically now…can he even think on his feet? Look at the last debates and you will notice a pattern…I feel like there is a parrot in the room.
I watched the morning rounds this morning and felt disgusted with the Media. Meredith V. should be ashamed of herself. Why doesn’t she stand up and say – No, I am not going to ask those dumb questions. Shame on her.
Shame on every women who is offering their biased views…such as Donna Brazil, Campbell Brown etc….it will only too late before they realize they lost the election – and that is was not the fault of the candidate most qualified, but theirs.
Go Hillary – we have your back.
Hi!
I’m from Spain so sorry if my English is not very good.
Like myself many people in Europe are trying to follow US elections because your country has a great influence in international politics and these last years with Mr Bush have been quite disastrous.
What has caught my attention is that the media in Europe and the ones I’ ve been able to read from the USA use to give much support to Mr Obama just because he is young, “new” and even other much more absurd things like “he is good lookink”. The fact is that none of this things help to be a good president of any country, the only important stuff should be to have a clear opinion of what to do in these next years, and I still don´t have a clear idea of what is Obama’s program about. On the other hand Mrs Clinton has shown to be a very coherent politician, and she seems to be quite independent from the lobbies, which is good for the 99% of the people not represented by those. I also must say that when Bill Clinton was the president and she was the first lady of the USA in Europe people had a better opinion of your country than nowadays.
Anyway, I was writing just to say that I’d prefer that Mrs Clinton wins the election. I don’t know if you use this expression in English, but in Spanish I would say that I have the impression that Mr Obama is “selling smoke”
jbmdo: You Europeans crack me up with your modesty about your English skills. You write beautifully.
How do you say “selling smoke” in Spanish? Maybe it will not get lost in translation with the Hispanic voters.
In the fifties (before my time), there was a song that went, “When you’re heart’s on fire, smoke gets in your eyes.” I think your idea of selling smoke hits the nail on the head.
Thank you so much for showing us your concern all the way from Spain. I know that many of my French and German colleagues feel the same way. When I go on business trips, they are very sympathetic but I think they are too kind to tell me what they are really thinking. A French colleague now in the US told me with a bit of schadenfreude that the US is no longer seen as #1 in the world. Now, we lag behind China.
*sigh*
I hope we can correct this in the next 10 days. Keep sending us good thoughts from Spain.
jbmdo, in English we also have the expression “smoke and mirrors.” Wikipedia gives an excellent definition and examples.
Smoke and mirrors is a metaphor for a deceptive, fraudulent or insubstantial explanation or description. The source of the name is based on magicians’ illusions, where magicians make objects appear or disappear by extending or retracting mirrors amid a confusing burst of smoke. The expression may have a connotation of virtuosity or cleverness in carrying out such a deception.
In the field of computer programming, it is used to describe a program or functionality that doesn’t yet exist, but appears as though it does (i.e., vaporware). This is often done to demonstrate what a resulting project will function/look like after the code is complete — at a trade show, for example.
More generally, “smoke and mirrors” may refer to any sort of presentation by which the audience is intended to be deceived, such as an attempt to fool a prospective client into thinking that one has capabilities necessary to deliver a product in question.
Wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_and_mirrors
jawbone: Vaporware! OMG that is so succinct. First Deval Patrick sold it to the people of Massachusetts (i understand his on the job training is giving some voters buyer’s remorse) and now Obama is selling it to the rest of America.
I tend to see the president as a system administrator. Right now, our server has been under the management of a very poor sys admin. He didn’t know what the f^&( he was doing and now the filesystem is all screwed up, performance tuning is out of whack and the packages are full of viruses. The next sys admin needs to know how to fix a server or the whole system is going to suffer. We don’t have time for a newby with a 2-day course in RedHat and manual.
Deval Patrick is a breath of fresh air after a long succession of horrid Republican governors.
But he didn’t get elected by doing the new! new! shiny! new! new! thing. And he didn’t crib other people’s speeches.
Hillary is terrific and I completely agree with you on your post….I am so worried that we will get stuck with Obama as the nominee that I keep praying daily about it….No way will he ever win the election tho…He is totally unelectable as the MSM will be happy to point out as soon as he knocks out Hillary….Can we all say Fascism, boys and girls??
No Blood: I’m so sorry. Of course if you are from Massachusetts, you would know better than I do. And I remember that when I campaigned in CT for Lamont, I met a lot of people from Massachusetts who were very enthusiastic about him. I may have been influenced by scattered news reports about his progress and that he did need some on the job training. But you are absolutely right in that Deval Patrick was a fresh start for Massachusetts and perhaps we should be more patient with his efforts to master his office.
I’m not sure, however, that we can afford to be “patient with [Obama's] efforts to master his office”….
The “Selling smoke” expression in Spanish is “Vender humo”.
Now I’ve read the definition jawbone has linked and it is very similar to “Smoke and mirrors” and the “vaporware” concept. In Spain many politicians accuse their opponents of “vender humo”, but I don’t think the expression is used in South America.
Anyway, I’m glad to be able to read blogs like this one, so it’s easier for me to understand what is happening in the US. Keep writing and I’ll keep reading!!
Wisconsin and Hawaii were the calm beform the storm at Obama Beach. It’s peaceful now, but Hurricane Hillary is about to brew. It is scheduled to make landfall in Texas on March 4. Stay tuned to the news for further developments.
beform should be before.
What I’d like to know is where the lines about “at some point you will see a light (or a light will shine down on you) and you will realize you have to vote for Barack Obama”. originated. (I was parphrasing.)
That kind of revivalist approach makes me very nervous in the political sphere.
Is Obama still including that? or has that been dropped since it made it into the press?
Good lord, I hope he’s dropped it. He must have been kidding but I think he might be starting to believe his own hype.
I may be a Brit but we your political race in the US is kicking up a storm over here.
Too much about Barack Obama and Clinton in the media. Our press is completely overlooking John McCain. If I was an American Voter he’d get my vote.
ethos: Whew! It’s a good thing you’re not allowed to vote then. John McCain is one of the Republicans in the senate who is obstructing every attempt to end the war and pass SCHIP and stuff. Really not a nice guy.
I do have to agree though that there has been entirely too much Barack Obama.
Thanks for playing.