Down And Dirty Debate #2

In the first Democratic debate in South Carolina, all of the candidates were mostly friendly to each other except for Mike Gravel. Gravel's incendiary comments got him the press he wanted and was generally considered to be a good move. But now that we have moved beyond the introductions of the first go around, tensions rose even up in front-runner land.

From RawStory:

"You're about 4 1/2 years late in leadership on this issue," Senator Barack Obama of Illinois said to John Edwards, the former North Carolina Senator who is running third in the polls among Democratic candidates for the party's nomination.

Obama was responding to a remark that Edwards had made about the decision by Senators Obama and Hillary Clinton of New York, the front-runner in the race, to vote against the recent funding bill for the Iraq War.

"There is a difference between leadership and legislating," Edwards said, accusing Obama and Clinton of quietly voting their opposition to funding the war.

Although Obama had a nice soundbite response to John Edwards' charge, what matters is the here and now. The facts are that Hillary and Barack were mostly quiet about their opposition to the Iraq supplemental bill that essentially caved to Bush's demands. We need real leadership in the White House, not voting for or against a bill depending on the health of one's campaign.

To Obama's credit he has been against the war throughout the last five years. Yet that makes it even more infuriating that he didn't speak out as loudly as Edwards and Christopher Dodd. We already know Hillary's motives (win, win, win) so her actions surrounding the legislation was to be expected.

The debate heavily focused on the war, but other issues surfaced as well. Health care, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the energy crisis and education were also discussed. All of these are pressing matters of course, but Iraq dominated the debate just as it does throughout the country these days.