Los Angeles Hosts the Obama-Clinton Debate

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Author: Max Weidman

Last Thursday, CNN and the Los Angeles Times sponsored the California Democratic Debate. It was the last debate before Super Tuesday, when California and 23 other states hold caucuses or primaries.

Senator Barack Obama put in the first words, summing up the atmosphere hinted at by moderator Wolf Blitzer: “After 17 debates, we’re down to two.” Kicking off what would be a trend for the first half of the debate, Obama made an appeal to the fallen John Edwards. This campaign camaraderie had even spread to his opponent in the tête-à-tête. “I was friends with Hillary Clinton before we started this campaign, I’ll be friends with Hillary Clinton after this campaign is over,” he said. In a familiar refrain, Obama spoke of change, new directions, getting over our divisions and moving into the future.

Clinton followed suit, thanking John and Elizabeth Edwards, with an accompanying mention of the 37 million Americans below the poverty line for whom they fought so hard. She spoke in a similar vein regarding redirecting the country out of the Bush-mire that has been such a rallying point for all Democrats, especially the former First Lady. She spoke with an equally fervent optimism as Obama, vowing that “there isn’t anything we can’t do if we put our minds to it.”

Fielding questions from LA Times correspondent Doyle McManus and Politico.com questioner Jeanne Cummings, Obama and Clinton battled in familiar arenas: healthcare, immigration and Iraq. A few novel questions came in at the debate’s close, via Politico.com, regarding Bill Clinton, the possibility of a Clinton/Obama ticket and the surfeit of sex and violence in Hollywood and on television. The debate was clearly a Hollywood function; CNN’s cameras repeatedly panned through the audience to reveal notable celebrities including Topher Grace, Stevie Wonder, Pierce Brosnan and Jason Alexander.

As both candidates indicated with their opening statements, the night proved to be much less divisive than previous debates. This was evident in responses from both senators, who despite established differences-Obama doesn’t want to mandate healthcare, Clinton won’t provide a definitive exit date for Iraq-seemed more interested in praising one another and bringing the party together.

When asked who came out on top, Joseph Mohorcich (first-year), one of the more than 15 Oxy Democrats Club members who volunteered at the event, spoke of the apparent unity. “Because the spirit of the debate was so positive and civil, the party as a whole came out on top,” Mohorcich said. He noted, however, that the majority of people outside the auditorium-especially the younger set-were clearly backing Obama.

On the issue of immigration, an intimate concern for many Californians, Obama sketched a compassionate plan, while Clinton spoke of a “practical, realistic approach,” which included fining immigrants for illegal entry. But even while answering a question that referred to his quote, that his was the only “humane” plan of the candidates, the senator from Illinois was loath to outwardly criticize Clinton.

The night was not all smiles and mutual praise, though. The subject of Iraq especially elicited some discord; Obama spoke not only of terminating the war, but ending the mindset that “got us there in the first place.” Clinton defended her much spoken of vote to go to war: “I think I made a reasoned judgment.” Echoing Clinton’s rhetoric of what the country immediately needs from the president, Obama countered, “It is important to be right on day one.” There was a lot of squabbling over who had been fighting for issues longer as Clinton played her perennial trump card: experience.

The gulf between each candidate’s foreign policy was underscored by a brief discussion on diplomacy, which hinted at Obama’s avowal that he would sit down with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Overall, the night amounted to a more cordial version of the same debate that has been going on for months. Now that Edwards has stepped down and Ted Kennedy has given his support to Obama, the race has taken on a dynastic quality.

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