Debate Fallout

Well, I'm somewhat surprised and very pleased to see the CW congealing around Tuesday's debate that, whoever won, Hillary Clinton definitely lost. She comes in for a gentle ribbing from Chris Dodd here, and a sharp attack from John Edwards here (politics of parsing indeed!). At the same time, Barack Obama responds to one of the Clinton campaign's least attractive features (among many contenders), namely its woe-is-me brand of feminism, here. [Isn't some opposition to Hillary rooted in misogyny?--ed. Sure. And Clinton and her retainers' tactic of reducing all criticism of her to expressions of latent misogyny is all the more repugnant.]

Observing all this, Andrew Sullivan comments: "This race is shifting a little, isn't it?" In the beltway, undoubtedly, it is. Elsewhere, I'm far from optimistic. Since Democratic primary voters somehow have found Clinton's position(s) on the war not only not disqualifying, but indeed unobjectionable thus far, and assuming the gender-baiting nonsense actually works with them, she will be very tough to beat.