Did Hillary have a Dean Moment?

[BT]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07u6uffKvpA

I don' t think so.

[Plane]

Isn't she stretching the point a bit?

I understand that she supported improved health care coverage , but that the coverage she is talking about , ..the way she is stating it,.. makes it seem as if there was none before.

[BT]

Isn't she stretching the point a bit?

I think she is delineating. And she did it well.

[Stray Pooch]

Seems like a typical, if heated political response.  I'm guessing this was in response to Obama and Edwards doing the tag team "We're change, she's status quo" number on her.  But I must say, talking about "35 years of change" sounds almost oxymoronic (or maybe you can just remove the "oxy" part).  Sweetie, if change has been going on for thirty five years, it ain't change - it's status quo.  But as pushbacks go, this one was no worse than Dole's "When are you gonna stop lieing about my record?" or Reagan's "I paid for this microphone." 

[BT]

Rivals Reacts to Teary Clinton
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January 07, 2008 2:42 PM

ABC News' David Muir, Raelyn Johnson and Sunlen Miller Report:  Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., on the tail end of his 36-hour campaigning marathon in New Hampshire on day before the primary vote, reacted to rival Sen. Hillary Clinton's emotional moment Monday.

Edwards offered little sympathy and pounced on the opportunity to question Clinton's ability to endure the stresses of the presidency.

"I think what we need in a commander-in-chief is strength and resolve, and presidential campaigns are tough business, but being president of the United States is also tough business," Edwards told reporters Laconia, New Hampshire.

Earlier in the day, Clinton became emotional when speaking to a group of voters in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

"My question is very personal, how do you do it?" asked Marianne Pernold Young, a freelance photographer from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Getting emotional, Clinton said, "It's not easy, and I couldn't do it if I didn't passionately believe it was the right thing to do. You know, I have so many opportunities from this country just don't want to see us fall backwards," she said.

Watch the video HERE.

Her voice breaking and tears in her eyes, she said, "You know, this is very personal for me. It's not just political it's not just public. I see what's happening, and we have to reverse it."

Edwards jumped on the chance to express his readiness to face the strenuous demands of the presidency: "What I know is I'm prepared for that and I'm in this fight for the middle class and the future of this country for the long haul, through the conventions, straight to the White House."

However, in an interview with ABC News' David Muir, Elizabeth Edwards offered more compassion than her husband.  She noted that everyone on the campaign trail can relate to how grueling the task can be.  In the end, Elizabeth Edwards did not pass on the political opportunity and added that voters will decide whether or not they want to see watery eyes.

Later, at another campaign stop, Edwards appeared to adopt his wife's more sympathetic tone.

"These campaigns are very grueling," he said, "they're tough and difficult affairs, running for president is a tough process."

During a campaign stop at Jake's Coffee in New London, New Hampshire, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was also asked to comment about Clinton's teary moment.

"I didn't see what happened," he said, but added, "I know this process is a grind. So that's not something I care to comment on."

Obama was asked if Clinton should drop out if he wins the Granite State primary tomorrow.

"I would never presume to say anything like that. Look, we've had one caucus, and this would be one primary. And right now Im just focused on tomorrow. We've got to get our voters out," he said.

"It would be such a shame after seeing the great turnout in Iowa, if we weren't working as hard as we could to make sure that story continues. Because I think that's the biggest story out of Iowa: 18 to 30 year olds voting at the same rate as seniors, doubling caucus turnout. That transcends any individual candidate, if that happens we're changing the political landscape," Obama said.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/01/rival-reacts-to.html

[fatman]

I don't like Edwards, and this is one more reason not to.  Rather than take the high road like Obama, he gets right into the mud with pigs, a kind of "I don't want to toot my own horn, but beep beep" kind of thing.  We're electing human beings as President, not emotionless automatons.

I don't really like Hillary either, but I won't fault her for being human.

[Brassmask]

No she didn't have a Dean moment.  She clearly had a Hillary moment.

Hillary has never done anything without thinking about how it will impact her run for the presidency.

Her comment regarding how she's been making change for 35 years is the most telling.  She has spent that time making so little change that in toto, it appears that she hasn't made any change at all.  Like a frog in slowly heated water, impossible for us to detect the alleged change she's made.

She does come off a little desperate at that point and many have pointed to that moment as "The End of the Clinton Era".

Hillary has made little change and she's made that no one can detect that smattering of change.  What she doesn't understand is that America is looking for something that would demark an absolutely undeniable change from the last "administration" and Hillary has never made an effort to appear different from that "administration" while not attempting to appear the same.

Clearly, Obama would be a true change from what has gone on the last few years; having said that, I'm not convinced he's the change I want either.

Lastly, I am overjoyed at the site of the collapsing Clintons and see it as delicious karma for the nefarious doings in the last presidential election.

[Religious Dick]

During a campaign stop at Jake's Coffee in New London, New Hampshire, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was also asked to comment about Clinton's teary moment.

"I didn't see what happened," he said, but added, "I know this process is a grind. So that's not something I care to comment on."

Obama was asked if Clinton should drop out if he wins the Granite State primary tomorrow.

"I would never presume to say anything like that. Look, we've had one caucus, and this would be one primary. And right now Im just focused on tomorrow. We've got to get our voters out," he said.

That's what I like about Obama. Whatever you think about his politics, he's always handled himself like a class act. If we have to have  a Democrat in the White House, this guy is head and shoulders above his competitors.

[yellow_crane]

. . . the last "administration" and Hillary has never made an effort to appear different from that "administration" while not attempting to appear the same.

Why the quotation marks around the word administration?

If not an administration, what was it?

[Henny]

During a campaign stop at Jake's Coffee in New London, New Hampshire, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was also asked to comment about Clinton's teary moment.

"I didn't see what happened," he said, but added, "I know this process is a grind. So that's not something I care to comment on."

Obama was asked if Clinton should drop out if he wins the Granite State primary tomorrow.

"I would never presume to say anything like that. Look, we've had one caucus, and this would be one primary. And right now Im just focused on tomorrow. We've got to get our voters out," he said.

That's what I like about Obama. Whatever you think about his politics, he's always handled himself like a class act. If we have to have  a Democrat in the White House, this guy is head and shoulders above his competitors.

Absolutely agreed. I've come to respect Obama a great deal, and this is another point in his favor.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Obama is every White person's ideal Black person. He can comport himself in both communities like a native and in a dignified manner. Jesse Jackson's and Al Sharpton's strident preaching style turned off a lot of White folks, who consider this to be like lower class preachers of the sort one hears in Podunk, Ark. on the radio every night.

My observation is that what is considered good preaching by most Black Americans is considered lower-class ranting by most White Americans. Obama is not of the preacherly class, and is seen as a male politician version of  Halley Berry or Beyonce, or perhaps Oprah.

White folks who say "I don't have anything against Black people, it's just that they are soooo XXX." tend to agree that Obama is not XXX at all.

This is an asset, of course. Obama has a gut feeling for both communities and the tact needed to get them to agree.

[Henny]

Obama is every White person's ideal Black person. He can comport himself in both communities like a native and in a dignified manner. Jesse Jackson's and Al Sharpton's strident preaching style turned off a lot of White folks, who consider this to be like lower class preachers of the sort one hears in Podunk, Ark. on the radio every night.

My observation is that what is considered good preaching by most Black Americans is considered lower-class ranting by most White Americans. Obama is not of the preacherly class, and is seen as a male politician version of  Halley Berry or Beyonce, or perhaps Oprah.

White folks who say "I don't have anything against Black people, it's just that they are soooo XXX." tend to agree that Obama is not XXX at all.

This is an asset, of course. Obama has a gut feeling for both communities and the tact needed to get them to agree.

Perhaps, but when I assess Obama against the other candidates, I'm not rating the black candidate against the white candidates. He is simply the candidate with the most class, regardless of race or color of skin.

[Brassmask]

Why the quotation marks around the word administration?

If not an administration, what was it?

Administrations administer.

Bush and regime were the opposite of an administration.