Obama and Clinton Compare Their Patriotism

The contenders to head the Democratic Party in the US presidential elections, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, partook in a debate on the verge of the Pennsylvania primaries.

Hillary Clinton, who needs only a major victory in Pennsylvania, took the offensive during the debate.

Barack Obama needed to defend himself. According to the observers, thelast debate witnessed his weakest performance, which until now did not shake his lead in the race. Taking place on Wednesday night at the National Constitutional Center in the city of Philadelphia, the television debate took place between the

contenders for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. The peculiarity of the current debate is that it’s taking place five days before the Pennsylvania primaries, which may indicate who will be the party

nominee. At the present moment, Barack Obama has 1,638 party delegate votes for the August Democratic Convention in Denver, while Hillary Clinton has the support of 1,502 delegates.

In Pennsylvania 158 delegates are at stake. Thus the April 22 primary in Pennsylvania may be a point of no

return for Hillary Clinton; if she loses, the former first lady will not get another chance to continue the struggle with Barack Obama on equal terms.

Understanding that only a full offensive may save her, Hillary Clinton spent the 90 minute debate on the offensive, quoting Obama’s speeches and the episodes from his life, highlighting the questionable aspects of

them. She was actively helped by the debate moderators from the television channel ABC, Charles Gibson and George Stephanapoulos. The questions were at times tricky and, judging from the behavior of Mr. Obama, gave him more than a few uncomfortable moments. In this way the black senator from

Illinois was questioned about his association with his pastor, who became the center of a scandal due to his associations with members of a radical Chicago organization Weather Underground, that were responsible for a series of bombings in the 1960s, and why he doesn’t wear the stars and stripes on the lapel of his jacket.

“I admire the American flag. And I wouldn’t be fighting for the presidency if I didn’t admire this country,” Mr. Obama defended himself. Also, Hillary Clinton didn’t fail to recall his recent comment about blue-collar workers that the Clinton team interpreted as not understanding or respecting “working America.” “A widespread problem in our political culture is that someone can pull out of a statement, a poorly phrased

comment, and use it to kill their opponent. This is exactly what Senator Clinton is doing,” Obama attempted with one swing to block the many hits of Hillary Clinton.

During the debate he rarely was on the attack, but he didn’t forbid himself to gleefully remind Mrs.Clinton about a statement that she made 16 years ago, in which she said that she doesn’t want to spend her life as a

housewife, only serving tea and baking cookies. In the opinion of Barack Obama, this statement by Hillary Clinton doesn’t stand well with her proclaimed adherence to the values of “simple people and small towns.” On the whole, according to the observers, the last debate in Philadelphia was the least expressive for Mr. Obama, who is a talented orator.

This debate showed once again that both of the candidates are ready to fight for the nomination of the party until the end of this race. A question was posed to both of the candidates by the head moderator: “Are you ready to be the running mate on a presidential ticket headed by your opponent?” Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both took a long pause that drew laughter from the audience. In prior debates both were ready to

accept that their opponent could win. Answering the question of whether Barack Obama could defeat John McCain, the Republican candidate, and find himself in the Oval Office, Hillary Clinton answered “Yes, yes, yes.”

Barack Obama’s answer to the same question, but with Hillary Clinton in his place, was: “Without a doubt she can; I’ve always said so.”