The Democratic Debate

Two things I noticed:

First, for the first time, every candidate referred to Bush's "failure of leadership," or some variation on that phrase. It's about time! It took months to understand that phrases like Daschle's "failure of diplomacy" don't seem all that bad to Americans. Our isolation is not just that we're not making nicey-nice with all these other countries, it is a failure to lead. It's about time to say it, and say it again and again for 15 months.

Second, I still think John Edwards has a lot of what it takes, and might yet break through. He did his hair differently, so he doesn't look quite as much like a 20-year-old, but most of all, he just talks like a normal person. A friend said recently that he was just looking for a candidate who could talk to high school graduates, and Edwards seemed better suited to that than anyone else up there. Talking to juries must be good practice.