Sen. Hillary Clinton was on top of her game during what may be turn out to be the final Democratic debate of the 2008 election, but she was unable to score many points against Barack Obama, who has been steadily cutting into their leads in polls in Texas and Ohio.
Mrs. Clinton is a top-notch debater, better than Obama, but Obama has not needed strong debate skills in this campaign. He has effectively used his ability as an orator and his ability to connect with people to his advantage, eschewing the old fashioned politics as played by Mrs. Clinton.
Mrs. Clinton was finally able to put her Iraq vote behind her, with her comment that if she could take back one vote that would be it. She also won points with her criticism of Obama's failure to reject the support of Louis Farakkhan, head of the Nation of Islam and someone who has espoused anti-Semitic views time after time. The pundits seem to think that Obama, who had said he denunciated Farrakhan, managed to deflect Mrs. Clinton's criticism by just saying he did not see a difference in words between denunciate and reject, but if she saw it as a problem, he would reject it, too. That seemed a little weak.
I am beginning to wonder about these all-knowing pundits. Perhaps Saturday Night Live had it right in its opening sketch Saturday night which showed how the media has fawned over Obama. Clinton had the stronger performance tonight, but the pundits are making it appear as if Obama showed nothing but presidential timber tonight.
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