In an attempt to point out differences between himself and his rivals, John Edwards took shots at frontrunners Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama on the war and Iraq and healthcare in the second Democratic presidential debate.
Edwards directly challenged both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama on their leadership on Iraq. Although both frontrunners voted against the recent funding bill, Edwards criticized both for failing to do more to end the war.
"There's a difference between leadership and legislating," Edwards said. "Senator Clinton and Senator Obama did not say anything."
"The differences between us (on Iraq) are minor," Sen. Clinton responded.
Edwards suggested that both candidates lacked leadership on the Iraq issue because they were among the last to appear on the Senate floor to vote.
Sen. Obama fired back sharply, saying that unlike Edwards, he opposed the war in Iraq from the start.
"You're about 4 and a half years late on leadership," Sen. Obama said.
Later, Edwards acknowledged the fact and complimented Sen. Obama.
"He was right. I was wrong," Edwards said.
But Edwards did challenge Sen. Obama on his healthcare policy, suggesting that it would not be universal. Sen. Obama said that his plan was not that different.
On healthcare, Sen. Clinton said the most important part of the debate is not the plan, but the political will to bring together a coalition to make it a reality.
In another notable exchange, Sen. Clinton said she does not believe the "War on Terror" slogan is just a bumper sticker slogan. She also acknowledged that since September 11th, "we are safer than we were, but not yet safe enough."
Sen. Joe Biden defended his vote to continue funding the Iraq war, even though he wants to end it. But he would not criticize Sens. Clinton, Obama and Dodd for voting differently.
"These are my friends. We work together," Sen. Biden said. "I can not and will not vote to not fund them," Sen. Biden added.
Clinton also weathered questions about why she didn't read the National Intelligence Estimate before voting to authorize the war in Iraq.
"I was thoroughly briefed. That was a sincere vote," Clinton said.
On the question of whether to make English the official language, both Obama and Clinton had good moments, but in different ways. Obama used the question as an example to unite and not divide, the theme of his candidacy. "That question is designed to divide us," Obama said.
Clinton gave a more clinical but possibly useful answer. She pointed out that she supports English as the national language but not the official language because of legal consequences. She said making English the official language would bar New York from printing ballots in other languages.
On gays in the military, Clinton wouldn't say her husband's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was a mistake, but did call it a transition policy.
She said the policy was no longer the best way for the nation to proceed.
Quoting Barry Goldwater, Clinton said, "You don't have to be straight, to shoot straight."
During the audience portion of the debate, Obama seemed to circle around a question about veterans healthcare. The question was: Why can't veterans choose their own hospital for care? Obama ended up talking about the Medicare benefit and how that was fumbled, but Bill Richardson handled the question much better. Richardson directly answered the woman's question, speaking about a "Heroes HealthCard," and allowing veterans to go where they want to get care.
In addition to his aggressiveness, Edwards also seemed to try to demonstrate that he's been hitting the foreign policy briefing books, by talking extensively and thoughtfully about Iran and Pakistan.
"We need to drive a wedge between Iranians and their leader," Edwards said.
Sen. Joe Biden said Iran was at least a decade a way from weaponizing a nuclear bomb. But when pressed he said, "If they posed a missile, stuck it on a pod, I'd take it out," he said.
But overall, Clinton seemed to own the night again. Not for spectacular lines. Her Dick Cheney line wasn't that funny. (Occasionally, they send Dick Cheney and that's hardly diplomatic in my view.) But on policy and substance, Clinton was measured and confident.
She best demonstrated that when she lead the way in responding to question about military action in Sudan and the possibility of civilian deaths.
"We're not going to engage in these hypotheticals. One of the jobs of a President is being very reasoned in approaching these issues, and I don't think it's useful to be talking in these kind of abstract hypothetical terms," Clinton said.
Not exactly inspiring. But Presidential.
Here's my Conventional Wisdom Ratings after Dem Debate 2:
1) Hillary - When the questions got complicated, the boys on the stage looked to her to take the lead. And she did. She's also got substance, and that still counts for something.
2) Edwards - He gets some points for going after the top tier, but his success is unclear. Still, he got wonky on Iran and Pakistan and seemed smoother than Obama.
3) Biden - Biden is honest and sometimes goes to far. But his passion and knowledge came through in this debate. Maybe it will at least help with 2nd Quarter fundraising.
4) Obama - He says "ummm" too much. It's not good for TV reporters or Presidents. The CW is that his depth of knowledge is not as vast as Hillary's (or Biden's) and it is beginning to show. Plus, does this guy realize he's in second place and falling? When are you gonna take your shot at Hil?
Other questions:
1) Where did Hillary go during halftime? She was the only candidate that I could see that left the stage during the break.
2) Notice how all the candidates refer to Hillary as . . . uh . . . Hillary. They should at least call her Senator for respect. And don't they want to remind the public that she's a Senator so it brings her down a notch?
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