Yes, but did you hear his response?

Sen. Barack Obama successfully answered tough questions during the Nevada Democratic presidential debate hosted by The Nevada Democratic Party, who partnered with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, IMPACTO, 100 Black Men of America, and the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. It was telecast by MSNBC and held at the Cashman Center on Tuesday, January 15, 2008.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself; so let me recap what you already know by now.

The debate overall was informative, but it seemed more like a two hour talk show. Sen. Edwards may have seemed like the odd man out, due to all the attention on this race issue, but he held his own and made sure the debate focused on the issues. I’m going to be watching him as this campaign continues.

The highly publicized issue of using the strategy to implement race politics dominated the first segment of the debate. The candidates remained calm, especially with a national audience focused on them, and tried to set the record straight by downplaying what staff and supporters had said, without their knowledge or approval, by veering from their initial messages and adding personal views during campaign speeches and town hall meetings.

At one point, the attention on Senator Obama’s qualification as a leader presented itself, specifically, his ability to manage his Cabinet. At first, I thought Obama made a critical mistake by exposing a “weakness” by saying that, “I tell my staff never to hand me any papers until two seconds before I need it, otherwise I would lose it.”

Senator Clinton jumped at the opportunity to expose this and crafted an elaborate and successful point of a “failed leadership model to follow,” referring to President Bush’s trail of management mishaps and stressed the need to maintain control over your staff.

Barack effectively deflected this jab in his quick witted response to further elaborate on Bush’s failed management abilities and explained why it had failed due to Bush’s lack of judgment, vision, and inspiration, all qualities that Barack Obama brings to the table.

Throughout the debate, Clinton’s body language, such as using the hands to express thoughts, was used to direct the viewer toward Obama mainly, for example, when Clinton was answering a question about a certain supporter, she crafted her response to include the range of issues on leadership. She basically pointed (body language ploy) at Obama when saying, “What people talk to me about is not what somebody else they never heard of said, but what we said,” thereby creating the impression that Obama is not as well known to the people as she is or people regard him as new to this immense political playing field of which she has credible experience. Being a part of the Clinton legacy gives her a unique edge. Besides, she is married to a former President and who better to critiques someone (Obama in this case) on Presidential policies than a former president?

Again, I have to say that the Nevada debate was very informative and I look forward to see what happen in South Carolina on Jan 21st and the 26th.