"From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** Did Iraq tip the debate to Obama?
We thought last week’s contentious and (at times) mean-spirited debate nearly resembled that rumble-in-the-rain scene in “The Outsiders.” Yet last night’s Clinton vs. Obama event was quite different. Given their polite exchanges, the cordial tone, and the Hollywood setting, we’d have to say that the debate seemed -- at least to Democrats tuning in -- like one of those feel-good movies in which the protagonists, against all odds, come together and win the day: “Remember the Titans,” “Stand and Deliver,” “Shawshank Redepmtion.”
Cue the slow clap. As far as evaluating the debate, it was tough to pick a winner in the first hour. Both made very professional and nice impressions in what had to be one of the largest debate audiences to date.
Then came Iraq -- an issue that had virtually disappeared from the campaign trail and past debates -- and Clinton once again showed why the issue has been such an Achilles heel for her.
Obama just has an easier time talking about his position, while Clinton has to re-explain why she was for it and why she's not for it now. If the debate were being scored like a boxing match, the first 60 minutes would have been judged as a draw, but the last 30 minutes would have been given to Obama on points, thanks to the Iraq issue."
*** Levin Amendment returns:
Speaking of Iraq, Clinton was asked a question she doesn’t always get: Why she voted against the 2002 Levin amendment, which would have required more diplomacy before the US went to war against Iraq.
At the debate, Clinton answered as she normally does, “The way that amendment was drafted suggested that the United States would subordinate whatever our judgment might be going forward to the United Nations Security Council. I don't think that was a good precedent. Therefore, I voted against it.”
But as Al Hunt recently wrote, “It did no such thing, Levin said at the time and a spokesman reiterates now. The proposal's language explicitly required that Congress ‘not adjourn’ before it ‘promptly considers proposals related to Iraq if the United Nations fails to adopt such a resolution.’ Senator Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat who, like Senator Clinton opposed the Levin amendment, said at the time the UN charge was ‘specious’ and that this was a vote about supporting an invasion.”
Rezko became a household name after last week’s debate. Will the same be true of the Levin amendment after last night?
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