Democratic debate covers embarrassing topics for Obama and Clinton
Tension is apparent between the rivals for the party's presidential nomination.
"Bitter" Americans and who is best-positioned to win in November dominated the first part of tonight's Democratic presidential debate -- and exposed a seam of tension between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, who had portrayed themselves in previous debates as friends beyond the politics of the campaign.
The debate at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center was the last before Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary, and recapped some of both candidates' embarrassing moments since their most recent debate more than a month ago.
Obama was questioned about incendiary sermons by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., and his own comments at a San Francisco fundraiser that many took as belittling the mind-sets of small-town Americans -- a point Clinton has hammered on the campaign trail.
Clinton was asked about her claims that she had ducked sniper fire during a Bosnia visit as first lady -- an incident a voter brought up in a video question, saying it had cost the New York senator his vote.
Clinton said she had written accurately about the Bosnia visit in a 2004 memoir, but admitted she had mischaracterized it on the campaign trail.
"I'm embarrassed by it," she said. "I have apologized for it. I've said it was a mistake. And it is, I hope, something that you can look over."
Obama again distanced himself from Wright's comments, and said he had mangled his underlying point about economic frustration. The Illinois senator sought to steer the evening back to broader issues than the back-and-forth of political campaigns.
"The problem that we have in our politics, which is fairly typical, is that you take one person's statement, if it's not properly phrased, and you just beat it to death. And that's what Sen. Clinton's been doing over the last four days," Obama said. "It's important to recognize that it's not helping that person who's sitting at the kitchen table who is trying to figure out how to pay the bills."
But Clinton said such issues were fair game in an election -- and that her experience in her husband's White House left her better-prepared for tough campaigning.
She accused Obama of offering conflicting explanations of his relationship with Wright and his church.
"It is clear that, as leaders, we have a choice who we associate with and who we apparently give some kind of seal of approval to," she said. "These are problems, and they raise questions in people's minds. And so this is a legitimate area, as everything is when we run for office."
