Given how the narrative of this campaign has gone for the past several days, it’s not at all surprising that Barack Obama faced a much tougher time in Philadelphia than he has in any previous debate:
PHILADELPHIA, April 16 — Sen. Barack Obama repeatedly found himself on the defensive here Wednesday night as he sought to bat away criticism of his remarks about small-town values, questions about his patriotism and the incendiary sermons of his former pastor in a potentially pivotal debate six days before Pennsylvania’s presidential primary.
In their first head-to-head encounter in nearly two months, Obama (Ill.) and his opponent for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), sparred over gaffes, missteps and past statements that could leave them vulnerable in the general election against Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive Republican nominee.
But it was Obama, now his party’s front-runner, who was pressed most persistently by moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News to answer questions that have dominated the Democratic race in the weeks since the last major contests, held March 4 in Texas and Ohio.
And, of course, it was bittergate that made the top of the list:
It took only a few minutes for the debate to focus on Obama’s comments at a recent fundraiser in San Francisco, in which he characterized people who live in economically hard-hit small towns as “bitter” about their plight and said that, as a result, they “cling” to religion, guns and an antipathy to people not like themselves.
Obama said he understood why some people were offended by what he called a “mangled up” statement and then sought to reframe his comments in less offensive terms. “The point I was making was that when people feel like Washington’s not listening to them, when they’re promised year after year, decade after decade, that their economic situation is going to change and it doesn’t, then, politically, they end up focusing on those things that are constant, like religion.”
Obama also said many of those Americans end up basing their votes on issues such as gun control, and he said those issues often become wedges to divide the electorate. “When those issues are exploited, we never get to solve the issues that people really have to get some relief on, whether it’s health care or education or jobs,” he said.
Because, you know, minor issues like the Second Amendment or people’s faith and family pale in comparison to what Big Brother Barack can do to make our lives better.
And, for the first time, Obama was forced to answer a question about his relationship with a former terrorist:
He was then asked about his association with William Ayers, a member of the Weather Underground, a radical group from the 1960s and ’70s. Ayers was quoted after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as saying he did not regret setting bombs and that “we didn’t do enough.”
Obama said he does not have a close relationship with Ayers. “The notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn’t make much sense,” he said. He also noted that President Bill Clinton had pardoned members of the group.
Once again, Clinton took the opportunity to criticize her rival, calling Ayers’s comments “deeply hurtful to people in New York,” and she said Obama had served on a board with Ayers. “And I have no doubt — I know Senator Obama’s a good man and I respect him greatly, but I think that this is an issue that certainly the Republicans will be raising,” she said. “And it goes to this larger set of concerns about how we are going to run against John McCain.”
And Hillary was asked about Bosnia again:
Clinton came under fire as well, for incorrectly stating on several occasions that she had dodged sniper fire on a visit to Bosnia in 1996. The context for the question was a new Washington Post-ABC News poll showing that nearly six in 10 Americans do not find her honest or trustworthy.
Clinton was asked a question in a video clip of a Pittsburgh voter, Tom Rooney, who said she had lost his vote over it and wondered how she could win him back. “Well, Tom, I can tell you that I may be a lot of things. But I’m not dumb,” Clinton began. She then added: “I’m embarrassed by it. I have apologized for it. I’ve said it was a mistake. And it is, I hope, something that you can look over, because clearly I am proud that I went to Bosnia.”
So we should elect you because you’re a tourist ?
Anyway, that seems to be how the debate went last night. Looks like I didn’t miss a darn thing.
