Hillary Clinton's voice is like a chain saw slicing through our head, from one ear to the other. It's important to have a president who doesn't make you reach hastily for the remote. "Off" has become the default in this household since 1999. It will remain that way if bluff -'n'-bluster is replaced by that chain saw whine in 2009.
So pardon us if we stick with live-bloggers and post-debate wrap-ups rather than live voices. The issues seemed to be the same old same old, one debater grounded and patient but aggrieved, the other outright petulant and whiny. Enough is enough already.
We go with Dowd's descriptions of Clinton:
She has been so discombobulated that she has ignored some truisms of politics that her husband understands well: Sunny beats gloomy. Consistency beats flipping. Bedazzling beats begrudging. Confidence beats whining.
Experience does not beat excitement, though, or Nixon would have been president the first time around, Poppy Bush would have had a second term and President Gore would have stopped the earth from melting by now.
Voters gravitate toward the presidential candidates who seem more comfortable in their skin. J.F.K. and Reagan seemed exceptionally comfortable. So did Bill Clinton and W., who both showed that comfort can be an illusion of sorts, masking deep insecurities.
The fact that Obama is exceptionally easy in his skin has made Hillary almost jump out of hers. She can’t turn on her own charm and wit because she can’t get beyond what she sees as the deep injustice of Obama not waiting his turn.
Listen, universal healthcare and NAFTA are complicated, not soundbite material. How did we ever turn our presidential "debates" over to the money media? Media means "go-betweens," not "owners." The airwaves are ours, not Tim Russert's or Chris Matthews'. How many people had no access to the discussion last night because they aren't willing or able to pay for access to democratic processes?
So Dowd is wrong when she writes, "Beating on the press is the lamest thing you can do," and not altogether wrong when she adds, "It is only because of the utter open-mindedness of the press that Hillary can lose 11 contests in a row and still be treated as a contender." Neither "open" nor "mind" are words that come to mind when thinking about media in the US but they certainly have been easy on Clinton. Perhaps it's not surprising, then, that Hillary comes across as someone who thinks she's owed something.
At least one member of the reviled media reveals that it hasn't been a picnic covering these debates. Or rather, it's been too much of a picnic. Chris Cillizza writes in "The Fix" that no one aced the debate last night but Obama didn't lose his momentum -- that's the main thing. But it's no wonder Cillizza feels his own momentum slowed, given the gut-binding dinner and the choice he had to make about which voices to listen to.
The grueling debate schedule is impacting The Fix's health and social life. To wit, here's what the Fix ate tonight: 1/2 block of cheddar cheese, seven chicken tenders, one Diet Coke with lime, one bottle of Poland Spring sparkling water (raspberry lime flavor). Not exactly the dinner of champions. And did we mention that tonight's debate coincided with a concert here in Washington by Wilco -- The Fix's favorite band? MAN. The sacrifices we make for the love of politics.
