The Twentieth Round
The twentieth debate featuring Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, broadcast this evening by MSNBC from Cleveland, covered a fair amount of foreign policy waterfront, without either candidate getting very wet. Tough questioning on NAFTA was to be expected, given Hillary’s contretemps over Obama’s pamphlets attacking her stance. But Tim Russert’s quiz on Putin’s probable successor, Dimitri Medvedev, caught both candidates a bit flatfooted. Hillary mispronounced his last name, and Barack didn’t seem to remember his first. But I thought that Barack’s further discussion of Kosovo, dealing with Russian opposition to Kosovar independence, was well-formulated:
RUSSERT: [Medvedev is] 42 years old, he’s a former law professor. He is Mr. Putin’s campaign manager. He is going to be the new president of Russia. And if he says to the Russian troops, you know what, why don’t you go help Serbia retake Kosovo, what does President Obama do?
OBAMA: Well, I think that we work with the international community that has also recognized Kosovo, and state that that’s unacceptable. But, fortunately, we have a strong international structure anchored in NATO to deal with this issue.
We don’t have to work in isolation. And this is an area where I think that the Clinton administration deserves a lot of credit, is, you know, the way in which they put together a coalition that has functioned.
It has not been perfect, but it saved lives. And we created a situation in which not only Kosovo, but other parts of the former Yugoslavia at least have the potential to over time build democracies and enter into the broader European community.
But, you know, be very clear: We have recognized the country of Kosovo as an independent, sovereign nation, as has Great Britain and many other countries in the region. And I think that that carries with it, then, certain obligations to ensure that they are not invaded.
Between Iraq/Afghanistan, NAFTA, and Russia, foreign affairs topics accounted for about half of the debate. Some observers who are offering first impressions (Mike Todd on MSNBC, for example) credit Clinton’s spirited attacks, but I felt that Obama’s statements offered more by being more measured, lucid and calm.
There has been a rash of anti-Obama outbursts in last 48 hours: the photo on Matt Drudge’s website (which he says was provided by Clintonites); the inflammatory shock-jock intro to McCain at a campaign stop in Ohio today; Hillary’s exaggerated “Shame on you, Barack Obama!” denunciation of Obama’s pamphlet (referred to above).
These non-substantive (but distasteful) incidents have the feel of last-stage political desperation, broadly substantiated by yesterday’s NYT report that quotes an unnamed Clinton staffer as saying that they are “throwing the kitchen sink” at Obama in the final days before the March 4 primaries.
Such tactics, by their evident lack of scruples and substance, are more likely to sully the attacker. After all, picking up the sink to throw it can be a messy exertion.