Kumbaya, Baby!

Can't we all just get along?

The debate at the Kodak Theater between Obama and Clinton last night provided a pleasing contrast with the previous Democratic forums and a stark contrast with the republican sneer-fest the night before. I caught myself doing a double-take several times, just at the sight of our candidates on the stage: a black guy and a woman - and they're both very good. It absolutely makes me proud to be a Democrat, especially when I compare our candidates with the Three Stooges on the republican side.

It lacked the petty sniping and one-liner soundbites of earlier events, and that was just fine with me. The format of the debate was far far more interesting and worthy of anyone's time to watch it. When we had 6 or 7 candidates on the stage in the early events you couldn't get any real information from any candidate. Those events were only good for candidates who could deliver the most memorable phrase. Last night each candidate got to speak pretty much as long as they wanted and got to put the issues in their own framework. It got pretty wonky some times, with the details of their differences. Those of us who have been closely following the campaigns for months have heard that all before. But voters who were finally paying attention before Super Tuesday got to listen to our candidates in a very good forum.

On balance, Obama won the night. He looked and sounded so damn presidential. It was pretty even up to the point when they talked about Iraq, but then Hillary had to just sit there because she didn't have anything positive she could say on her side. Both candidates did well, but Obama gained the most.