Philly Debate: International Herald Tribune Says Edwards Overshadows
Like most reviews of the debate last night, this International Herald Tribune story also gave Edwards kudos for differentiating himself from Clinton and Obama unable to deliver on the promise to differentiate himself and take on Clinton. For Obama, the honeymoon is over and voters are starting to realize that he can neither win nor take on Hillary as the anti-Hillary. The Anti-Hillary is John Edwards.
But for all the attention Obama drew to himself coming into the debate, he was frequently overshadowed by former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who — speaking more intensely — repeatedly challenged Clinton's credentials and credibility, and frequently seemed to make the case against Clinton that Obama had promised to make.
"Senator Clinton says that she believes she can be the candidate for change, but she defends a broken system that's corrupt in Washington, DC," Edwards said.
He added, "I think the American people, given this historic moment in our country's history, deserve a president of the United States that they know will tell them the truth, and won't say one thing one time and something different at a different time."
Clinton's view of why Republicans have been targeting her was laughable:
Clinton pointed to the fact that Republicans have been assailing her constantly as evidence that she was delivering a clear message.
"The Republicans and their constant obsession with me demonstrates clearly that they obviously think that I am communicating effectively about what I will do as president," she said. "And I am trying to do that because it matters greatly. We've got to turn the page on George Bush and Dick Cheney. In fact, we have to throw the whole book away. This has been a disastrous period in American history, and we hope it will be aberration."
And both Edwards and Obama explained to viewers why Hillary was really being targeted -- it was definitely not because Hillary has been effective in conveying how she would be different or better than Bush-Cheney but because she would be the best candidate for the Republicans to take on and win against:
Edwards offered a similar line of attack. "I mean, another perspective on why the Republicans keep talking about Senator Clinton is, Senator, she — they may actually want to run against you, and that's the reason they keep bringing you up," he said, adding, "I think that if people want the status quo — Senator Clinton's your candidate. "
Obama and Edwards came into the debate seeking to raise questions about Clinton's credibility — and, as a result, renew doubts about her electability. Clinton may have helped them with her unsteady answer about whether she supported the initiative by Spitzer.
"Do I think this is the best thing for any governor to do?" she said. "No. But do I understand the sense of real desperation, trying to get a handle on this? Remember, in New York we want to know who's in New York. We want people to come out of the shadows. He's making an honest effort to do it. We should have passed immigration reform."
She was challenged on what she said first by Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and then by Edwards. "Unless I missed something, Senator Clinton said two different things in the course of about two minutes just a few minutes ago, and I think this is a real issue for the country," Edwards said.