On Iran, Clinton gets a huge demerit for voting for the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment. Of course, too many people have falsely argued that K-L is some type of authorization for military action against Iran. It is not. But it was a foolish vote as it does buttress arguments from Bush-Cheney and the neocons for military action against Iran. Obama missed the vote and has sponsored similar resolutions in the past. Nothing positive there for Obama. Dodd voted against K-L but also sponsored similar resolutions in the past. Better than Obama but not much. Edwards has again been rhetorically strong on this issue.
Advantage Edwards.
On FISA, Senator Dodd has knocked this issue out of the park. While Clinton, Obama and Biden joined Dodd's lead, and Edwards was again strong rhetorically, there can be no doubt that Senator Dodd showed leadership, strength and wisdom on this most important issue. Big win for Dodd.
On health care, I am not expert enough to be able to analyze the various plans submitted by the candidates. But I am not one who puts much stock in 18 point plans. They do not survive elections. On rhetoric and commitment, I can not find anything to choose from among them. It is said that Edwards opened the door wide open by issuing his plan first. I think that thought has a lot of merit. Therefore, advantage Edwards.
On climate change, again I am not expert, and not a big believer in 18 point plans, though some experts have given Clinton the highest marks. On rhetoric, the winner is Al Gore. He's not running. I call this one a tie.
On immigration, the plans are not the thing as they REALLY will not survive the election. To me the most important aspect of this was a willingness to reject the basest instincts on this issue. On this, Barack Obama wins hands down. He embraced Spitzer's plan on drivers licenses for undocumented aliens and did not back down from that even though his answer in the LV debate was pathetically bad. Edwards tried to use the issue as a cudgel against Hillary Clinton, who had the second worst performance of all, by abandoning the right position in favor because of political considerations. Dodd was the worst on this. His rejection of the Spitzer plan was nonsensical and played to the basest natures.
Big win for Obama on this issue.
On civil rights, these are all good Democrats and will fight hard for civil rights. There simply is no doubt in my mind about that. It is worth noting Obama's horrible peroformance with regard to Donnie McClurkin. It seems fair to me that gay Americans have doubts about Obama as a result. I can not say that I do.
On trade, I am a Rubin Democrat. I believe Barack Obama, in spite of the political advantage that could have been garnered, has proven the strongest. Clinton has equivocated and due to the Clinton Administration's stellar record on trade, can not go as far as she no doubt would to be Gephardt-like on trade. Edwards is just plain wrong on this issue. Dodd is good on trade as is biden and Richardson. There is a clear contrast here between Edwards and the rest of the pack. It is why people like David Sirota are so in favor of Edwards. It is one of the major reasons I am not.
On social security, Edwards and Obama have totally bungles the issue politically while Hillary Clinton has handled it perfectly. Social Security is mostly about atmospherics, not policy. There is little challenging about Social Security policy. Obama has played to the Beltway elite. Edwards has made character attacks on Clinton on it, using GOP frames.
Big winner on this issue, Hillary Clinton. Big losers, both Obama and Edwards.
Finally, an important political consideration for me is political style and rhetoric. As I have written for some time, Obama has a serious problem here. That said, he has gotten much better. He is fighting Republicans a lot more now. And unlike John Edwards, who in fact was demonstrating the finest political rhetoric in this campaign until recently, Obama is reticent about using GOP language to attack Hillary Clinton. His attacks are more substantive at times. And he attacks less. Dodd decided a month ago to become a hilary attack machine but seems to have abruptly stopped this.
Let's be clear, criticizng Hillary Clinton will be and MUST be done by all who are challenging her. There is plenty to criticize. But character attacks using GOP language has to be out of the picture. Personally, Edwards has lost any chance of garnering my support because of his decision to become a Hillary character attack machine. Perhaps he will end this phase of his campaign because all he is doing is helping Obama and hurting himself. We'll see.
Finally, the most important issue in the General Election to me will be the Supreme Court. I have confidence in all of the candidates on this score.
Right now, I have a slight lean towards Obama with my heart wanting me to support Dodd. Of course, the campaign starts in earnest now. Let's see what they do.
