Showdown in Austin

Mr. Obama needed a knockout punch to beat Hillary Clinton. But instead Hillary counter-punched off the ropes to a draw. Hillary needed an effective knock-out blow but failed to deliver when pressed back into the corner on the war in Iraq, on the issue of immigration, health care, talking to the new Cuban leader, solutions for the economy, development of an effective bi-lingual plan of learning, and her readiness to lead.
Based upon Barack Obama’s performance, he exhibited an acute awareness and understanding of utilizing diplomacy and negotiations which are more in tune with the world complexities of the twenty first century. That hard, intense, consistent, intelligent diplomacy would have prevented the war in Iraq. In the instant case, the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld philosophy of preemptive warfare coupled with a ground war was a failure. Mr.Obama is correct in asserting that the invasion and war in Iraq was a classic example in poor judgment and lack of experience in dealing with international diplomacy. Hillary Clinton and John McCain were willing to give George Bush and company a blank check without scrutinizing, critically examining, cross examining the validity of all the necessary intelligence data that was available for each senator to review and discuss.

This showdown really became a melt-down of the two candidates with them lightly jabbing at each other over the issues they have discussed over the past several months without delivering the necessary knockout blow.