Due to some technical problems last night (still being worked on) our post on the debate could not be posted. But here’s a bit of catch-up on what many pundits consider Hillary Clinton’s debate rebound.
Of course, a “rebound” means that what viewers saw did not fit an existing narrative as described by the mainstream media, all-knowing talking heads on TV, and bloggers (some of whom consider themselves superior to the mainstream media that they quote and link to since most bloggers do not do any original reporting and few bloggers fact-check reports that they quote — and we don’t either). So a “rebound” means the conventional wisdom is being revised. Until the NEXT deviation from the conventional wisdom as described by The People Who Know.
But here are some YouTubes that show the “new” Hillary Clinton. And it seems to be a new one. Last night Hillary Clinton the front runner, sitting on her lead and trying not to offend to the point where she seemed to be a latter day Thomas Dewey with lipstick, was gone. THIS was Hillary Clinton the down-in-the-trenches campaigner.
As with most debate responses — except the ones that are spontaneous and suddenly boost or batter a candidacy — some of it may be scripted. But scripting alone won’t cut it. The person in the debate has to come across on TV as sincere, forceful yet not arrogant.
Here’s a key Hillary Moment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM3ToN7fafk
And here’s another. Former Senator John Edwards has been going after Clinton steadily and relentlessly. In this clip, she takes him on head-on and links him up with Republican attack-style politics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9BZXzOxNvs
And Barack Obama? She takes him on head-on, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xABMmk4lFTs&feature=user
What can you conclude? A few thoughts:
— She has discarded the front-runner style campaign. Clinton wasn’t exactly coasting before but she was overtly triangulating. In reality, this shift, requiring her to jump into the dirty trenches and battle her own party’s foes, is exactly what she’ll need to battle a skillful, tough political fighter such as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
— Clinton has the most to lose if she doesn’t look good in early votes. The new conventional wisdom is that she showed a lot of toughness. If she either loses or barely wins an early battle the new narrative will be her non-inevitability and vulnerability as a candidate.
— The GOP has reason not to underestimate her. She looks increasingly good on TV, comes across well, smooth and tough. The U.S. is eons behind other countries that have already have women in top jobs and it’s just a matter of time before Americans get totally comfortable with the idea of a woman as President. Clinton’s seeming confidence in this debate could help erase some of that.
— Don’t be surprised if there are attempts to discredit her or her husband. The greater a threat she is in terms of performance (how she fares in debates and in major media interviews), the larger the likelihood becomes that her foes within her party or outside of it will try to find something to derail her candidate. If they can’t find some new baggage, they will likely open up some old baggage to see if some dirty linen is inside.
More articles on Hillary Clinton and the debate
Be sure to read the ever-lively James Wolcott who begins his post on the debate with this:
The Democrats on stage in Las Vegas: I don’t understand why these televised debates can’t be held in a more intimate studio setting so that the candidates don’t feel compelled to SHOUT their ANSWERS back to Wolf Blitzer, who himself is BELLOWING as if trying to be heard above a raging inferno. It’s like that dinner theater production of Death of a Salesman in Soapdish. And the way this debate is shot and lit by CNN, it’s as if little elves upgraded me to HDTV when I was in the bath. I really don’t need to get that Chuck Close a topography of makeup deposits and tightwire nip/tucks. And why is the backdrop so busy? That building-blocks design suggests the eyesore wall of a Winter Olympics pavilion. They should have taken their cue from the phenomenal yet uncluttered use of rear projection screens in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
Read it all.
UPDATE: And some controversy….
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.