The left wanted a two hour infomercial for the Democratic party in prime time. They didn't get it and now they're staging a massive backlash against ABC, so massive in fact that it is almost sure to spark a backlash against the backlash. The left has basically dared the media to ask Obama unpleasant questions, and while the media may be overwhelmingly liberal, tell a liberal reporter he can't ask a question and he'll only feel compelled to ask it, right? And ABC aired an extremely entertaining debate. There are no substantive policy differences between Hillary and Obama, this primary is now about character, integrity, vision, electability, anything but policy. They both want out of Iraq, they both want universal health care, they both want to raise taxes, they both want to close Gitmo, they both want to get bin Laden, so any debate on the issues is of marginal relevance to helping voters choose a candidate and of no entertainment value at all. As for all the gotcha questions with Obama, well, people want to know who this he is, who he hangs out with, why he won't wear a flag lapel pin. These are not unreasonable questions, what's unreasonable is that Obama can't provide any decent answers. He was evasive and misleading throughout the night. An example:
Obama, last night: "I have never said that I don't wear flag pins or refuse to wear flag pins." Obama, October 4, 2007: "You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest."
Most disturbing was Obama's comparison of Tom Coburn to William Ayers, though this isn't terribly surprising from a man who compared Rev. Wright to his own grandmother. It now seems obvious that Obama's perception of Ayers and Rev. Wright is different from the way most Americans view them. The end result is that voters learned a lot about Obama the man during this debate. They may still favor him come November, but ABC provided a valuable public service last night, in addition to two hours of genuinely entertaining television.