I gotta disagree with I gotta disagree with Sam, despite his heroic efforts live-blogging the debate last night: Hillary was the clear winner. Gibson and Stephanopoulos helped to rig the outcome by feeding Obama a string of specious-attack questions, but Clinton gave more direct, confident answers at every juncture, while the amount of "ums" and "ahs" coming out of Obama's mouth did not portray him in his best light. And whatever you believe about the merits of the ongoing debate over meeting with hostile foreign leaders, you have to admit Clinton sounded damn presidential when she said:
Number one, we've got to begin diplomatic engagement with Iran, and we want the region and the world to understand how serious we are about it. And I would begin those discussions at a low level. I certainly would not meet with Ahmadinejad, because even again today he made light of 9/11 and said he's not even sure it happened and that people actually died. He's not someone who would have an opportunity to meet with me in the White House. But I would have a diplomatic process that would engage him.
--Dana Goldstein
