- With Hillary’s stumbling Tuesday night, Obama had the chance to wow the crowds and make up some lost ground in the polls. And…well, he didn’t. Obama is a homerun hitter; he’s capable of delivering towering, inspirational speeches to large crowds that can create the feel of a church revival. But Tuesday’s debate format didn’t really play to his strengths —- in the 30 -second “lightning round” he often tried to say too much and seemed to be measuring each word carefully — and to belabor the metaphor, he just needed to put the ball in play and move swiftly. And…well, he didn’t. (The question about life elsewhere in the universe was one of those jokey questions designed to out the respondent as a kook, but his answer didn’t need to be so buttoned-down and humorless). In contrast, John Edwards and Joe Biden all came across as much less buttoned-down and much more personable.
- But yo, did Hillary look shaky or what? She was completely in control during the first few debates, hyper-efficient and even likable. But her bizarre non-answer to the question of whether illegal immigrants should be given driver’s licenses the way Eliot Spitzer proposed could prove to be more damaging than pissing off the right or left with a straightforward answer either way. The other candidates at the debate wasted no time going at her after that, and it gave them more ammunition for their claims that she only says what’s politically expedient. (She came out in support of the driver’s license measure the next day. See? Hillary’s on that CP time too, so it’s okay). Heavy lies the crown.
- Chris Dodd took the ballsy (and sensible position) that marijuana should be decriminalized.
- The Times wonders if there’s room for black execs at Fortune 500 companies. Nowhere near as janky and maddening as other ‘topical’ pieces they’ve done on black people recently.
- White college students love them some blackface. I’m sure they didn’t mean anything by it, right?
- The Supreme Court gives a stay of execution to a man convicted of murder.
- Um, John Ridley, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, I’m scratching my head, too.
