In the latest debate version of “Get Hillary” in Las Vegas the other night, Sen. Hillary Clinton?s closest rivals continued their effort to cut into her lead by challenging her consistency and trustworthiness. In doing so, they ended up unwittingly playing straight men for her as she demonstrated her ability, with enough time to prepare, to counterattack.
Former Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama, as they did in the previous Democratic debate, had the former first lady in their sights from the start. The first time around, seemingly caught unaware, she stumbled, but this time she was ready.
Abetted by CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer mentioning their previous challenges to Clinton, the debate again made the New York senator the centerpiece, and she made the most of it by giving as good as she got.
When Obama led off by saying “what the American people are looking for right now is straight answers, and that is not what we?ve seen out of Senator Clinton on a host of issues,” she fired right back.
“Well, I hear what Senator Obama is saying, and he talks a lot about stepping up and taking responsibility and taking strong positions,” she said. “But when it came time to step up and decide whether or not he would support universal health care coverage, he chose not to do that. His plan would leave 15 million Americans out. That?s about the population of Nevada, Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire” ? the states that will hold the first 2008 caucuses and primaries.
Clinton?s response totaling the populations of those states demonstrated that she and/or her staff came in with their ammunition ready. It was a confirmation of another allegation of her rivals, that she is carefully programmed. But putting it another way, it showed her readiness and a deft strategy to engage her critics.
She went on to observe that she has “a universal health care plan that covers everyone,” a veiled attack on Obama?s plan, in which coverage is not mandated. He quickly countered: “Well, let?s talk about health care right now, because the fact of the matter is … that I do provide universal health care.”
The only difference between her plan and his, he said, “is that she thinks the problem for people without health care is that nobody has mandated, forced them to get health care. … What I see are people who would love to have health care. They desperately want it. But the problem is they can?t afford it.” His plan, he said, “makes sure that it is affordable to get health care that is as good as the health care that I have as a member of Congress.”
Clinton was ready again. “I can?t let that go unanswered,” she said. … “Senator Obama?s health care plan does not cover everyone. … He does not mandate the kind of coverage that I do, and I provide a health care tax credit under my American health choices plan so that every American will be able to afford the health care.”
And so it went, with Edwards joining in, arguing that Clinton “continues to defend a system that does not work, that is broken, that is rigged and is corrupt; corrupted against the interest of most Americans and corrupted for a very small, very powerful, very well-financed group.”
When Blitzer tried to move on, Clinton balked, saying “I?ve just been personally attacked again. I don?t mind taking hits on my record on issues, but when somebody starts throwing mud, at least we can hope that it?s both accurate and right out of the Republican playbook.”
Although Edwards? comment was at best very watered-down mud-slinging, she cast it as the worst possible ? something a hated Republican would say. She quickly added that “when Senator Edwards ran in 2004, he wasn?t for universal health care. I?m glad he is now. But for him to be throwing this mud and making these charges I think really detracts from what we?re trying to do here tonight. We need to put forth a positive agenda for America.”
The rest of the debate was milder, but a point was made: Continued “going after Hillary” will risk paying a political price with irritated voters, especially women.
Jules Witcover, a Baltimore Examiner columnist, is syndicated by Tribune Media Services. He has covered national affairs from Washington for more than 50 years and is the author of 11 books, and co-author of five others, on American politics and history.
