Obama Plays Defense

"Twas not until the nine-o'clock hour drew nigh that a single issue-oriented question was asked."

Greg Mitchell pronounces it "a shameful night for the U.S. media" (hey, I had nothing to do with it):

"In perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years, ABC News hosts Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous focused mainly on trivial issues as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off in Philadelphia. They, and their network, should hang their collective heads in shame.

"Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the health care and mortgage crises, the overall state of the economy and dozens of other pressing issues had to wait for their few moments in the sun as Obama was pressed to explain his recent 'bitter' gaffe and relationship with Rev. Wright (seemingly a dead issue) and not wearing a flag pin -- while Clinton had to answer again for her Bosnia trip exaggerations."

I disagree. The first half hour was spent on Bittergate, Wright and Bosnia sniper fire--political issues, sure, but all received huge coverage in the media, including the HuffPost. That was followed by lengthy discussions of Iraq, taxes, gun control and affirmative action. I suspect their real beef was that the questions were tilted against Obama, which, in the first half, they were.

Taylor Marsh gives props to the ABCers:

"The truth is that Gibson and Stephanopoulos asked questions that have been on people's minds, but nobody else in the media had the spine to bring up."

Even Obama booster Andrew Sullivan was disappointed in his man:

"It was a lifeless, exhausted, drained and dreary Obama we saw tonight. I've seen it before when he is tired, but this was his worst performance yet on national television. He seemed crushed and unable to react. This is big-time politics and he's up against the Clinton wood-chipper. But there is no disguising the fact that he wilted, painfully...

"This is still the arena we have. It is what it is. ABC News is what it is. The MSM knows no other way. Obama has to survive and even thrive under this assault if he is to win. He failed tonight in a big way."

Atlantic's Marc Ambinder says Hillary shouldn't pop the champagne just yet:

"Keeping the score card, there's no way Obama could fared worse. Nearly 45 minutes of relentless political scrutiny from the ABC anchors and from Hillary Clinton, followed by an issues-and-answers session in which his anger carried over and sort of neutered him. But Hillary Clinton has a Reverse-Teflon problem: her negatives are up, and when she's perceived as the attacker, the attacks never seem to settle on Obama and always seem to boomerang back on her. So it would be unwise to declare that Hillary "won" the debate in the dynamic sense just yet . . .