Orangeburg, S.C. – The Democratic candidates who want his job launched a sustained assault on President Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq but also clashed with one another Thursday night as the issue of national security dominated their first presidential primary debate.
The grandest forensic fireworks occurred near the end, when Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois was chastised for replying too meekly when asked how he would respond to a 9/11-type terrorist attack by al-Qaeda. Obama sketched a series of cautious diplomatic moves.
“I would respond militarily, aggressively,” said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, departing from the debate’s choreographed format to correct Obama.
“That would be a direct threat on the U.S. I would make it clear there would be an important decisive military response,” Richardson said.
Moments later, Obama sought to clarify his remarks, straying from the debate’s script to strike a more muscular pose.
“We have genuine enemies out there,” the senator acknowledged. “There is no contradiction between us intelligently using our military and … lethal force to take out terrorists and at the same time building the sort of alliances and trust around the world that has been so lacking over the last six years.”
The four U.S. senators in the Democratic field traveled from Washington after casting their votes in favor of a measure to withdraw American forces.
Bush “is stubbornly refusing to listen to the will of the American people,” said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
“This war is a disaster,” said Richardson. “I would withdraw all of our troops.”
The debate was carried by cable television channels from this important primary state. It took place on the campus of South Carolina State University, a historically black campus renowned for its role in the civil rights struggle. Three students were killed and two dozen injured when police fired into a crowd of protesters in 1968.
It was the first opportunity for all eight Democratic candidates to take the stage together. Though the size of the group and the rules of the debate limited the opportunities for the rivals to directly confront one another, NBC anchorman Brian Williams peppered them with provocative questions.
Williams pressed Obama about his relationship with an indicted campaign contributor in Chicago. He asked Richardson if he was not applying a double standard when defending embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales because he is a fellow Hispanic.
“He came from nothing,” Richardson said, describing the attorney general’s childhood. “I know the guy. Did it affect that he was Hispanic in what I said? Yeah, it did, and I said so.”
The moderator also called on Richardson to defend his record on Second Amendment issues, and the National Rifle Association’s previous endorsements of his pro-gun record.
“You’re right, Brian. I am a Westerner,” said Richardson. “The Second Amendment is precious in the West.”
Williams challenged former Sen. John Edwards to defend his $400 haircuts and service as a lawyer for hedge funds.
Edwards conceded that he has been materially blessed but promised, “I’ve not forgotten where I come from.” He told how his father, a textile worker, was once forced to have his family leave a restaurant because they couldn’t afford the menu.
Mischievously, Williams asked Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware if the senator could have the discipline to harness his “uncontrolled verbosity” as president.
“Yes,” Biden said tersely, suppressing a grin. And even the anchorman joined the laughter.
The fireworks, such as they were, erupted when Williams asked Obama, Clinton and Edwards what they would do if al- Qaeda launched a 9/11-type attack on the United States.
Obama said the U.S. would need to assess the quality of its intelligence reports “so that we can take potentially some action to dismantle that network.
“But what we can’t do is then alienate the world community based on faulty intelligence, based on bluster and bombast,” he said. “Instead, the next thing we would have to do, in addition to talking to the American people, is making sure that we are talking to the international community.”
Edwards was a bit more militant, promising to find out how America’s defenses failed.
Clinton said, “A president must move as swiftly as is prudent to retaliate.”
A few moments later, Richardson departed from a question to criticize Obama and Edwards for their caution.
Obama was given the opportunity to expand on his remarks. But that put the senator in the crosshairs of other contenders, as he was criticized by the two most pronounced anti-war candidates – Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel – for excessive belligerency.
“You would be setting the stage for another war,” Kucinich said.
