Drexel's Democratic debate was successful
John Lloyd
Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: Ed-Op
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I think I speak for all of our members, and the student body at large, when I say that this was a unique and exciting opportunity for students to see the machinery of American democracy in action. I was personally moved being so close to such an historic event.
But now that the satellite trucks have driven off, the celebrities have gone, and the crowds have disbanded; the only question everyone is asking is: "Who won the debate?"
It's actually a question I hate answering, because I feel it so oversimplifies the issues at hand that it trivializes the process to ask it. That being said, it's really just shorthand for: "What changed?"
It may be too soon to know whether the race for the Democratic nomination has changed, but we knew going in that the hype was of Sen. Obama "drawing distinctions" between himself and Sen. Clinton. Sen. Obama had generated a lot of hype about going after Sen. Clinton, and he certainly landed a few solid blows. Sen. Clinton saw most of them coming though, and was able to parry with red-meat rhetoric about George Bush and Rudy Giuliani. To paraphrase Chris Bowers, it can be difficult to punch someone in the face after telling them for a week that you're going to punch them in the face.
Despite Sen. Clinton's best efforts though, some of the criticisms seemed to stick.
Sen. Obama's strongest asset, in my view, is the fact that he was outspokenly critical of the Iraq war before we invaded, when it was politically dangerous to do so. I think it demonstrates superior judgment than some other candidates, and Sen. Obama was quite forceful in his criticism of Sen. Clinton for lacking that judgment when it would have mattered. It certainly wasn't the first time the point has been made, but Sen. Obama was awfully direct this time.
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