Posted: April 17, 2008 12:15 PM
Clinton, Obama Exchange Sharp Attacks at Philadelphia Debate
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In their last face-off before Pennsylvania’s primary next Tuesday, Democratic presidential contenders Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton traded barbs on policy and character as they both sought out to prove their strength against presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain Wednesday night in Philadelphia.
The ABC News debate, moderated by Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, put both Democrats on the defensive, with references to controversial moments in their campaigns over the last few months.
Clinton was asked about an exaggeration of the danger she was in while visiting Bosnia during her time as first lady, and Obama was attacked on issues ranging from his links to pastor Jeremiah Wright and recent controversial comments about small-town Pennsylvania voters.
Obama’s comments, made to a private group of funders in San Francisco earlier this month, that small-town Americans are “bitter” because of an unresponsive government and “cling to guns and religion” because of their frustration, have raised repeated criticisms from the Clinton campaign, which called the comments “elitist.”
Clinton again attacked the Illinois senator on the statement Thursday night and Obama retorted by comparing the misunderstanding of his comments to a time when the former first lady “was lambasted during Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign for famously saying, ‘suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas,’ when questioned about possible conflicts of interest between her work at a prominent Arkansas law firm when her husband was the state’s governor,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Throughout the night, analysts said, Obama spent more time on the defensive than the New York senator.
“In the first 40 minutes of the debate, most of the questions were focused on Obama’s negatives (except for a lone Bosnia-sniper question to Clinton, with no follow up) and that’s what helped create what was a near disastrous performance for the front-runner. Obama was weak in a lot of his answers on his personal negatives,” MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro wrote. said.
A statement from the Obama campaign Thursday morning emphasized a perceived unfairness to the debate’s structure.
“Tonight we saw a real choice between the old politics of point-scoring and distraction and a politics that focuses on bringing us together to actually solve the challenges we talk about every single election,” the Obama camp said, according to MSNBC.
The candidates are currently scheduled to debate for the 22nd time on April 27th in North Carolina in preparation for the Indiana and North Carolina contests on May 6, but Obama recently raised some question over his participation.
-- By , NewsHour with Jim Lehrer | Comments | Link
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As you may know, there has a been an enormously negative response to ABC's handling of the debate. Would like to see you look at how debates should be handled, given that they are key components in the democratic process. Personally, I believe the debate's handling was scandalous and raises serious questions about journalistic responsibility. Given the enormous importance and significance of debate in the electoral process, and the fact that ABC uses public airwaves, it is not too strong to say that the network has failed in its responsibility to this nation.
the debate was a disgrace. the worst considering the questioers were experienced in political expertise. the network should be heavily reprimanded. s.silverman
What on earth is preventing PBS from holding a debate?
Back in the days when The League of Women Voters held debates, substantive issues were discussed.
I vote for Diane Rheem, Gwen Iffel, Ray Suarez, and Bill Moyers to moderate. All incisive and tenacious but fair questioners.