Friday, November 16, 2007

BARACK OBAMA

When Did Debate Moderators Turn Into Designated Villains?

The general consensus among those who sat through a debate that felt much longer than its two hours was that the storyline is The Hillary Comeback. Yup, already.

Chuck Todd sees something valuable for Obama in one exchange:

Obama got his YouTube moment when he got to challenge the moderator on the issue of being a pessimist. Look for THAT in an email box near you VERY soon.

Yes, that will really help in his head-to-head numbers against Wolf Blitzer.

One of the odder themes of the Democratic debates has been the not-so-hidden disdain for the moderators, who I think haven't been that bad. (I don't think any of them have been as bad as Chris Matthews has been for the Republicans, with his opining/critiquing Thompson, 'You should have stuck with no.') Obama complains the questions are designed to divide us, Hillary says she won't answer hypotheticals, Kucinich gets into a snit about Blitzer using the term "illegal immigrants"...  The Democratic candidates have drunk deep from the polls of the netroots and concluded that men like Wolf Blitzer and Tim Russert are part of the vast right-wing conspiracy (!) and that they can score points by treating the guy asking the questions as the villain.

11/16 10:03 AMShare