BARAK OBAMA needs to welcome the "EXPERIENCE" question. He needs to explain why he would consistently make the correct decisions as President. One question that people are anxious to know about is how will he handle those who try to undermine his Presidency. He needs to sight examples where his judgements were just as sound as Hillary's. He should not get defensive about the experience question because it is a legitimate concern. He needs endorsements of people he's work with in the past. People need to hear testimonies. If he is unable to bring all factions together how will he deal with it as President. He should mention that he learned from the Clinton's and studied them closely. He's learned from their successes and their mistakes and he has incorporated their experiences with his own. That the Clinton's experiences have only added to his life-long experiences. The true test is when things go wrong. Will Obama be able to keep things together. Hillary has proven that when things go wrong she can handle it.
A Flat Finale
The last GOP debate in Iowa lacked fizz
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It could have been the best debate of the campaign. With just three weeks to go before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses and the race in turmoil, the eight GOP presidential hopefuls, plus a strange guest star named Alan Keyes, faced off for the final time in Iowa Wednesday, in what for some candidates will be the last major opportunity to make an impression before the balloting begins.
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It's been a long time coming. Eleven times so far in this campaign—or it is 12 or 13? We lost track long ago—these candidates have gathered to scrap for the spotlight. What made this debate different, at least on paper, was that the finish line in what has sometimes felt like the longest presidential campaign in history is finally in sight. The questions might, at long last, matter.
Mike Huckabee, now atop the Iowa polls and starting to give Rudy Giuliani a run for his money nationally, hadn't faced the tough questioning his rivals had in previous debates. What would he say differently, if anything, under cross-examination from the competition—on the war, immigration and religion? Would Rudy Giuliani, who has been very nice to Huckabee (in part because he was regarded as a longshot, at best), take aim at the former Arkansas governor's perceived weakness on foreign policy? Would Mitt Romney bring up Huckabee's recent comments on Mormonism? (In an interview with the New York Times Magazine, Huckabee reportedly asked, "Don't Mormons believe Jesus and the devil are brothers?"—a comment he says he apologized to Romney for, in person, right after the debate.) And how would the rest of the field use this precious last bit of free air time to further their hopes of winning, placing or showing at the caucuses next month?
Just because the stakes were high doesn't mean the show was compelling. For starters, the format was limited. There were no follow-ups, and the moderator announced early on that there would be few questions about the war and immigration—two of the hottest issues in Iowa. And the candidates eschewed conflict in favor of trying to play nice—perhaps mindful of Iowa voters' legendary distaste for attack dogs.
The result: a debate that was just about as exciting as flat Coke. No fizz—unless you count the tension between Fred Thompson and the moderator over Thompson's refusal to participate in a round of questioning in which he was asked to raise his hand to signal a yes or no answer. "You want a show of hands? I'm not giving it to you," Thompson snapped. Strangely, it was one of the few times the usually staid Thompson has come across as excited in any debate since he joined the race. (We won't even mention the hissy fit Keyes threw about getting equal time except to say this: why was that guy even there?)
Huckabee, who drew favorable reviews for his debate performances even during his early days in the cellar, entered today's debate the front runner; nothing that happened over the two hours threatened his lead. He gave eloquent answers on education, which unquestionably is one of his biggest strengths. There could have been fireworks over his pitch to expand funding for arts and music programs at school; after all, the GOP is in crisis over how the party has strayed from its fiscally conservative principles. But none of his major rivals went there.
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