The New Republic

Olbermann has just commented that it sounded like Clinton was essentially making peace with her God at the end of the long journey.  I tend to agree.  It was heartfelt, and perhaps a genuine moment, but it sounded as if she was ready for her inevitable defeat (regardless of what Wolfson said in his rapid response email, attempting to say that Hillary had retaken the reins with these last comments).  

It was eulogy.

- kgrant1054

February 21, 2008 at 10:19pm

I hear "pretty good," not "very." For what it's worth.

- boeglin

February 21, 2008 at 10:20pm

I await the youtube comparison of Hillary's last statement with the near-verbatim response of John Edwards in another debate.

- timteeter

February 21, 2008 at 10:31pm

I've heard "Obama's cocky" before, but I didn't read it that way. He almost seemed like he was kidding himself. Some bald guy on Hardball just used that line though, so either he saw it on this blog or people actually are reading it this way. On paper, it might look cocky but I didn't think the delivery sold it that way.

- CharlesFosterKane

February 21, 2008 at 11:06pm

Can we get an entry on the Hillary & the superdelegates? MSNBC is reading it as her saying she's given up on that prospect. I thought she meant the reverse -- she basically said, the nomination will sort itself out (i.e. the system in place will take care of it, NOT "the primaries will take care of it.") What do you guys think?

Even as I'm typing this, they're hammering this point again.

- CharlesFosterKane

February 21, 2008 at 11:14pm

Doesn't it all come down now to who can beat McBush? Hasn't Obama shown he can do a better job of turning out the vote, winning over independents, and raising money?

- fougasseu

February 21, 2008 at 11:51pm

I thought her answer was deliberately vague on the superdelegate issue, and that it left her an opening to burn that bridge when she got to it, so to speak. Man do I hope she doesn't get to it.

- psantillana

February 22, 2008 at 12:02am

Frankly - Clinton's last eulogy was when she cried in New Hampshire. You got the feeling that she was conceding in that crying moment - if a bit frustratedly.

If that gets more press than her lame line, then she wins the debate.

If anyone actually watched the thing (and most people turn it off after about an hour), then Obama won big time. There was a sweat spot where he (a) defended his supporters (trust me - as a rabid Obama supporter, that made me want to give $200 and volunteer for 20 hours over the next 2 weeks) and (b) criticized her sillyness over plagiarism.

- virginiacentrist

February 22, 2008 at 12:11am

I have to admit that Hillary's fluency on policy is really impressive. Like her husband, she is a truly impressive wonk--you can't knock her hustle. That said, Obama was also very good tonight, and I really liked the way he directly spoke out against the hateful, nativist jargon coming out of the Republican party regarding immigration. For me, that was his finest moment in the debate. He didn't single anybody out. He just made sense and sounded like a real human being who would support policy grounded on humanistic terms. In short, he gave his wonkiness a human face and imbued his talk with a little eloquence. This is, in a nutshell, why his is winning.

- propositionjoe

February 22, 2008 at 12:36am

Battling headlines:

WaPo:  Clinton and Obama Remain Civil at Debate

NYT:  Democratic Debate Takes On Contentious Air

- jhildner

February 22, 2008 at 1:45am

I have to agree that Obama sounded like he was kind of joking when he said, "I have to admit, some of those speeches were pretty good" - it was clearly set up as a laugh line and I thought he got a laugh from the audience. He was laughing when he said it.

Where I think he was a little over the top was when he talked about how Hillary had been OK with his health care proposal when he was 20 points down but now that the politics have changed, she's all over it. I just didn't think he made the point clearly enough to really score with anyone except political junkies, and we tend to know where we stand already.

Don't underestimate the power of Hillary's last answer. My wife has been supporting Obama but also likes Hillary. That answer REALLY moved her, as I suspect it did a lot of people, particularly women. If the race gets to Pennsylvania in April, I'm not sure how she'll vote if Hillary can have a few more moments like that. There was a column somewhere recently (Politico?) advising her to just give up and assume the race is over because that's when she can loosen up and let her emotions through. Like she did in New Hampshire when she thought she was cooked. I thought she did that at the end last night (whether real or contrived) and the result was a MUCH more appealing Hillary. If she could learn to do that regularly on the stump, she'd probably have won this thing by now. Obama is a much better, or more consistent, performer when speaking and that's why he's likely gonna win. But when she lets herself, she's really good too.

- ramboorider

February 22, 2008 at 5:42am

Ugh. I know it moved a lot of people so there's no arguing with it. But it didn't move me. She sees a lot of wounded vets and sees that they've had it rougher than she has - which they wouldn't have if she hadn't blithely sent them into battle, using her high profile to help with that. So she's all about helping other people. Lady Bountiful. Pfft. But yeah, I knew it was a winner for her when I saw it. Because it's so much better than anything else she said.

- psantillana

February 22, 2008 at 6:46am

I agree ramboorider - that closing was such a smart jujitsu on Hillary's part. Everyone expected her to go negative and she got to look statesmanlike, old school warrior.  You bet that women will respond like crazy, of couse she knows that.  It really moved me and I'm an Obama kool-aider of the first order.

About Obama's cockiness (yes, I think its that), he mocks himself mercilessly for it in "Dreams of My Father."  He tells of story of giving a speech on apartheid that was so tedious and awful, everyone left. Yet somehow he convicnced himself he was the man.  His girlfriend at the time set him straight.  Anyway, he teases himself alot about that in a reassuringly self-aware way.  That's Michelle's job too - to keep his ego on  the ground when it floats out there.

- Wandreycer1

February 22, 2008 at 6:57am

hey wandrey, this campaign was the campaign of the two hillarys. Unfortunately for her, the Hillary of the last two debates, engaging, warm, intelligent (even when i disasgreed with her about health care, her feelings were genuine) was overwhelmed by the Hillary outside of the debates. I am convinced she had the worst campaign staff in history, and Mark Penn, in one campaign, managed to produce a worse job than all of Bob Shrums debacles. At least Shrum got to the general, Penn totally screwed her over. I read that pig was pushing Hillary to go very negative last night, which would have been a complete disaster given the audience.

- blackton

February 22, 2008 at 10:37am

"Don't underestimate the power of Hillary's last answer. My wife has been supporting Obama but also likes Hillary. That answer REALLY moved her, as I suspect it did a lot of people, particularly women."  

I have to say--Don't underestimate WOMEN--many of us see that, and the NH moment, as contrived, "Barbara Walters" moments.   And I am glad someone called her on borrowing others' comments.  If she is going to be so petty, she deserves to be called on the same thing.

- mlgrindo

February 22, 2008 at 11:21am

Democratic voters on March 4th will have to check their collective angst at the door of the polling booth if they were truly swayed by Mrs. Clinton's kumbaya riff alluding to Bill's trials and her tribulations. I, for one, was not so moved. It looked to me like a thinly veiled attempt to appeal to the last remaining vestige of Clintonian support: nostalgia.

- Roger Lang

February 22, 2008 at 12:18pm