Post Debate - Any Thoughts?

This was a rather boring debate. Clinton did not get the killer victory that she needed (and it may be too late for that anyway).

I didn't like the swiftboat attempt on Obama. These debate moderators and news organizations should be neutral (but as I have mentioned from the beginning, the media always favors the establishment candidates).

I also didn't like Obama's pledge that he would be beholden to Israel, rather than beholden to me as an American citizen. If he wants to run for the position of Israeli Prime Minister, perhaps he should move to Israel. One of the main problems with U.S. Mideast policy is the fact that the U.S. is not impartial and is therefore not viewed as a trusted peacemaker by all of the stakeholders. As long as that situation continues, Mideast Peace will be nearly impossible to achieve.

Obama's comments suggest that we will have 4 more years of the same failed U.S. policies in that troubled region. His comments did not portend "change". It sounded more like we will support Israel at all costs, even at our own peril. That is the approach that the U.S. has been using for 30 years, and it hasn't worked.

I also didn't like his praise of the Clinton Administration for its policy on Kosovo. It was their misguided policy that has created the current conditions for war in the region. That is not praiseworthy. We are still suffering the consequences of Bill Clinton's decision to attack Yugoslavia.

This is the main part of Obama's policy positions that bothers me most- his foreign policy. He is quick to adopt the Republicrat status quo on foreign policy.... The view that the U.S. should be the global cop with an imperialist, militaristic view of international affairs. The established policy (for both Parties) has been to gain U.S. influence around the world by projecting military power.

They both gave troubling statements about Russia... they didn't seem to realize that it has been U.S. foreign policy (since the mid 1990's) that has helped to create the current conditions in Russia, both economic and political. Now they want to get tough with Russia. To me, they sounded like the Republicans. Again, it looks like we will have 4 more years of the same U.S. foreign policy, particularly as it relates to Russia, no matter who becomes the next figurehead President.

This debate reminded me of why I never originally supported Obama...

But when compared to Hillary Clinton, I support Obama 100%. This is just as much about watching Hillary go down in flames, as it is about seeing Obama become the next President. The issue of a "Black" President was never a primary issue for me... although I would like to see it. For me, having "a Black President" has never been a major factor in determining who to support.

I also didn't like his weak response to that obvious attempt by the Clinton camp to race bait, divide, and scare white voters in Ohio and Texas. I predict that this ploy (along with the attempt to swiftboat Obama using Farrakhan), along with other lies told by Clinton, will begin to take its toll on Obama.... But I am hoping that it won't be enough to allow Clinton to catch up.

Clinton did get tripped up regarding NAFTA...and that was just beautiful to watch.

Any thoughts?

More from the New York Times

Hillary Can Run But Can't Hide from NAFTA

Clinton Claims That She Had Nothing To Do With Supporting NAFTA.

Oh Really?


Obama Responds to the Clinton Tirade on NAFTA


The Following Commentary From David Sirota at the Huffington Post

In response to Barack Obama's attack on NAFTA, the Hillary Clinton campaign has gone into meltdown mode. Here's Dow Jones' Marketwatch:

"Clinton's campaign fired back at Obama, charging the Illinois senator with misrepresenting Clinton's position on trade...'Recently [Obama] falsely claimed that Hillary said that NAFTA was a 'boon' to the economy. Now, Obama is resting his argument on a single paraphrase from an article written twelve years ago,' Clinton's campaign said in an emailed statement."

The Huffington Post has followed along with a laugh-out-loud piece in which the chief architects of NAFTA (many who are now wealthy corporate lawyers and lobbyists) are now saying, no, no, Hillary Clinton was really opposed to it. These are the same people, of course, who are looking for jobs in the Hillary Clinton White House.
What a total joke, really. This campaign clearly thinks we are all just a bunch of fools.

Hillary Clinton has made statements unequivocally trumpeting NAFTA as the greatest thing since sliced bread. The Buffalo News reports that back in 1998, Clinton attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and thanked praised corporations for mounting "a very effective business effort in the U.S. on behalf of NAFTA." Yes, you read that right: She traveled to Davos to thank corporate interests for their campaign ramming NAFTA through Congress.

On November 1, 1996, United Press International reported that on a trip to Brownsville, Texas, Clinton "touted the president's support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it would reap widespread benefits in the region."

The Associated Press followed up the next day noting that Hillary Clinton touted the fact that "the president would continue to support economic growth in South Texas through initiatives such as the North American Free Trade Agreement."

In her memoir, Clinton wrote, "Senator Dole was genuinely interested in health care reform but wanted to run for president in 1996. He couldn't hand incumbent Bill Clinton any more legislative victories, particularly after Bill's successes on the budget, the Brady bill and NAFTA."

Yes, we are all expected to just forget that, so that Hillary Clinton's campaign can manufacture supposed "outrage" that anyone would say she supported NAFTA - all at a time her chief strategist, Mark Penn, simultaneously heads a firm that is right now pushing to expand NAFTA into South America.

What a total insult to America's intelligence.


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Further Reading:

As of November 2007, Clinton's position has been that she will vote to expand NAFTA.

Obama's response to Clinton's claim that she had nothing to do with NAFTA...that she never supported the deal.

Details of Hillary's Public Support for NAFTA.... What She Said, and when she said it.


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Hillary On Record Supporting NAFTA


Hillary and NAFTA from Meet The Press