Democratic Debates

Last night Jen and I watched the democratic debate in New Hampshire.

The following isn't quite the exchange that took place between them, but I wanted to present my re-phrased version of what I thought were their strongest arguments.

Hillary's major argument has always been experience. I was never terribly moved by it before (because I think we've had, and can have, effective presidents without prior experience), but below is a version of it that gave me pause:

Hillary: All the democratic candidates want change, but we need someone who can deliver it. If you want change, look to what changes each candidate has already made. I have a 35 year record of it. I don't have to remind you of the importance of what the next president will need to do for the country and the world. Obama and Edwards are great people, with real passion and good ideas; the question you need to ask yourselves is, are you willing to take the gamble?
Are we willing to risk a president who can't bring his good ideas into reality? What our country needs is a president who can turn words into action, and I am that president.

What I think would be effective about this (for me) is that, even if you're not totally convinced about the role of experience, the "gamble" argument trades on a widespread conviction that we can't afford anything like that last 4 years.

Here is my re-phrasing of Obama's response:

Obama: Hillary is absolutely right that she's made some important changes in her career. But the kind of changes we need can't be made by the strength of a single person. As Hillary should know, large-scale changes can only be done with broad coalitions.

I don't think Obama could elaborate in a debate about why he's better suited for this task. Here's why: it seems to me that building a broad coalition requires charisma, and it requires that people like and and trust you. I don't believe (though I'm willing to be convinced) that Hillary is widely liked or trusted. Therefore she's going to have a lot more trouble building coalitions.