Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Try to Score Big with Texas Voters in Relatively Tame Debate

Date: Friday, February 22, 2008
By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

He said he thought Obama really connected, particularly in South Texas, when he talked about military veterans in the Rio Grande Valley not having adequate access to a Veterans Administration hospital in their area. The nearest one, De La Rosa said, is 250 miles away.

“It’s a really big issue in the Valley. There have been walks, marches and protests, and (Obama) was really genuine in saying that he just learned about the issue, but he scored a lot of points with people in the Valley, and when he mentioned us in the debate, people said that he really was listening to the concerns of people in that community,” De La Rosa said.

Clinton hurt herself, too, De La Rosa said, when she slipped into sniping at Obama.

In one of the more heated exchanges of the evening, Clinton reiterated assertions that Obama had committed political plagiarism in a couple of his speeches and, paraphrasing Obama’s campaign slogan, said, “That’s not change you can believe in; it’s change you can Xerox.”

She was immediately booed by the audience.

Obama dismissed the charge out of hand, adding that in a campaign debate, "What we shouldn't be doing is tearing each other down; we should be lifting the country up."

The exchange marked an unusually pointed moment in an otherwise civil encounter in the days before March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio.

In an auditorium at the University of Texas at Austin, the two agreed that high-tech surveillance measures are preferable to construction of a fence to curtail illegal immigration.

They disagreed on the proper response to a change in government in Cuba in the wake of Fidel Castro's resignation. Clinton said she would refuse to sit down with incoming President Raul Castro until he implements political and economic reforms. Obama said he would meet "without preconditions," but added the U.S. agenda for such a session would include human rights in the Communist island nation.

They also sparred frequently about health care, a bedrock issue of the campaign.

Clinton said repeatedly that Obama's plan would leave 15 million Americans uncovered. But he, in turn, accused the former First Lady of mishandling the issue by working in secrecy when her husband was in the White House.

"I'm going to do things differently," he said. "We can have great plans, but if we don't change how the politics is working in Washington, then neither of our plans are going to happen."

Clinton largely sidestepped a question about so-called superdelegates, members of Congress, governors and party leaders who were not picked in primaries and caucuses. She said the issue would sort itself out, and "we'll have a united Democratic party" for the fall campaign.

But Obama, who has won more primaries and caucuses than Clinton, said the contests must "count for something ... that the will of the voters ... is what ultimately will determine who our next nominee is going to be."

Crowds throughout Texas have been large and enthusiastic for Obama leading up to Thursday night’s debate and often during the forum.

On Wednesday, crowds in Dallas were electrified, with Obama supporters hoping to just get a glimpse of the candidate.

“All stripes, generations and sizes of folk there, getting along, celebrating the man,” said Linda Jones, owner of Manelock Communications and a journalist who writes about lifestyle and culture. “(The) brother is so real to these folks that he even charmed them with his bodily functions. He told them in the beginning that he was dealing with a head cold. Later in his speech, he stopped and excused himself saying that he needed to blow his nose. He took out his white handkerchief, tooted and dabbed. The flippin’ audience was charmed.”

Dontania Bradford, an enthusiastic Obama supporter, said she attended a rally for Obama the day before the debate, and “it was almost like we were in a conference room, albeit with thousands of people. It felt like he was speaking directly to you. It was awesome. I was boo-hooing almost the whole time. I was like, ‘Whoa, this is really happening.’”

After the debate, Bradford told BlackAmericaWeb.com she thought Clinton’s attempts to appear more accessible were transparent and largely failed.

“Towards the end, she tried to be more likable, but it’s like, ‘Honey, it’s too late for that,’” Bradford said.

Like other Obama supporters in previous primaries, Bradford said Clinton hasn’t been able to convince some average, working-class folks that she truly understands their plight. Bradford said she was swayed by Obama’s experience as community organizer and a state legislator who worked on local issues that affected people’s everyday lives.

“You can’t be for the people if you were never the people,” Bradford said. “He’s been there.”

Sean Gibbs, an Army captain in Killeen, Texas, who just returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq, told BlackAmericaWeb.com that neither candidate answered questions to his satisfication.

“Pretty much what I figured -- the closer they get to November, the closer the candidates get to policies that are more realistic," Gibbs said. "Obama didn’t make any mistakes, but Hillary showed that she is behind.”

And a Clinton candidacy, Gibbs said, is not particularly appealing to him or many of his colleagues.

“What I can tell you is this: (a) majority of soldiers would rather engage in the love that dare not speak its name with a manatee before voting for Clinton 2.0,” Gibbs told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Asked if that meant Obama supporters might sit out the election if Clinton were to win the Democratic nomination, Gibbs replied, “No. I think if Hillary were to win the Democratic nomination then all the Obama votes would go to McCain. McCain and Obama, with a few differences, are trying to do the same thing. Obama and McCain are basically centrists affiliated with two diametrically opposed parties. If they were independents, it would equal doom for the Democrats and the Republicans.”

De La Rosa said both candidates did a poor job of addressing the issue of border control.

“Voting for the border fence is an Achilles heel for both of them,” De La Rosa said. “It’s not something that the people want. Getting an immigration reform bill, that’s going to be big.”

De La Rosa did say, however, that Obama had made inroads among Hispanic voters, a group largely considered to be strong Clinton supporters.

“I think he’s doing better,” De La Rosa said. “I don’t think you will see as big a difference as you did in California and other states,” noting the support of young Latino leaders such as Texas state Reps. Juan Garcia, a longtime friend of Obama’s from their Harvard Law School days, Eddie Lucio III, an Obama organizer.

Lucio broke ranks with his father, state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., who endorsed Clinton early and escorted her during a visit to the Brownsville region, according to the Los Angeles Times.

De La Rosa said Sen. Edward Kennedy, (D-Mass), who is popular among Hispanics in Texas, also campaigned in the state for Obama.

“That actually lends his campaign a lot of credibility,” De La Rosa said. Clinton “still has the rank and file leadership, but the younger generation, second- and third-generation Hispanics see things a little differently.”

He dismissed talk that Hispanics won’t vote for a black candidate as “ridiculous.”

“Regardless of race, we look at the quality of the candidate and who is the best candidate. I think that’s old school stuff and stuff that shouldn’t be brought up. When people write about that stuff,” De La Rosa said, “they are way out of line and way out of touch.”

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Associated Press contributed to this report.