Following a protracted debate over the appropriateness of former president Bill Clinton's role in the campaign and whether or not Obama had praised former president Ronald Reagan, Obama launched a line that surely made opposition researchers everywhere slap five. While he was serving as a community organizer in Chicago, said Obama, Clinton was serving as a "corporate lawyer on the board of Wal-Mart."
Clinton matched Obama's howitzer with one of her own, noting that while she was fighting Reagan's policies Obama was "practicing law and representing your contributor Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago "-- a reference to indicted real estate developer Antoin Rezko.
That exchange was the most heated of the night but far from the only time that Clinton and Obama disagreed vehemently and, often, in personal terms. They exchanged blows over Obama's "present" votes in the Illinois legislature, their respective health care plans and (again) on the appropriate role for Bill Clinton on the campaign trail.
"It's hard to have a straight up debate with you because you never take responsibility for any vote," Clinton said at one point. Obama insisted that the Clintons had continually distorted his record; "I have been troubled by the degree to which my record is not accurately portrayed," he said.
Even as they battled back and forth, Clinton and Obama sought to pivot to the messages they believe have led to their successes in the campaign to date.
For Clinton, that is the idea that she alone can hit the ground running on day one in the Oval Office to reverse much of the work done by the current administration. "Politics is not a game," she said toward the end of the debate, echoing a favorite line from her stump speech.
For Obama, that message revolves around the need -- and his ability -- to bring about fundamental change in how politics in this country is conducted. "I am absolutely convinced that black, Latino, and Asian people want to move beyond our divisions and they want to join together in order to create a movement for change in this country," Obama said.
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