On latimes.com today, a summary of last night’s Democratic presidential debate reported that the main concern of the debate was Sen. Barack Obama’s past associations.Obama was pressed much of the time from his acquaintances with his former pastor and a long-ago member of the Weather Underground group, to not wearing an American flag pin on his lapel, and also was questioned about his comments regarding “bitter” small-town Pennsylvanians.
Sen. Hillary Clinton was on the attack, and pushed the debate on such issues, when moderators would bring them up.
Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who made controversial comments about America, had Obama on the defensive again, saying that Wright’s recent remarks overshadowed the good he had done in Chicago.
Obama acknowledged he knows William Ayers, a 1960s radical that of the Weather Underground, and the details of their relationship was called into question. Obama responded by saying that, “somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old,” had nothing to do with him.
As for the pin-less lapel on Obama’s jacket, it should be noted nobody on stage was wearing an American flag.
The comments Obama made about “bitter” Pennsylvanians was a strong topic, and Obama responded to the line of questions and defended them by saying they were “mangled up.”
“The problem that we have in our politics, which is fairly typical, is that you take one person’s statement, if it’s not properly phrased, and you just beat it to death. And that’s what Sen. Clinton’s been doing over the last four days,” Obama said.
In response to Obama’s “bitter” statement, Clinton had aimed herself at looking like the more everyday American’s choice, saying the role of faith and the importance of gun ownership in many American’s lives.
Obama said Clinton’s tactics were politics as usual, and exactly what he wanted changed about Washington.
Underlying all the squabbling, is the importance of Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary for Clinton. With time running out, and delegates she must make up surmounting, a large margin win in Pennsylvania is important.
While Obama attempted to stay political in his responses, keying in on McCain’s politics, Clinton seemed to be appealing to super delegates by saying that Obama would not be a strong candidate against McCain.
It was nearly 50 minutes before an Iraq war issue was brought up and about an hour before an economic question was posed.
Obama said he would lower taxes on the middle class but may increase capital gains taxes.
Clinton said his proposal to raise the threshold for Social Security payroll taxes would hit, “educators in the Philadelphia area, or in the suburbs, police officers, firefighters and the like.”
Obama questioned the logic by saying that the current threshold of $97,000 a year and that only those making more would be affected by such a hike. “Most firefighters, most teachers, you know, they’re not making over $100,000 a year,” he said.
As for a joint ticket in November, neither would say more than that they are for party unity.
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