Texas Debate

Last night I watched the entire debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Both of them trotted out the names of great, late Texas Democrats with Barbara Jordan getting due respect from both candidates. But other than that, neither showed much more than some basic statistical knowledge of Texas and our challenges. This is a national-level debate and the senators wrapped our state’s struggles tidily into their national plans.

As such, neither won. Their national plans are so incredibly similar that even the candidates had trouble drawing distinctions. Where they do differ, on healthcare or foreign policy, it’s a matter of degree not type. These guys are not apples and oranges. They’re Mandarins and Clementines.

The Texas primary is going to be like all the other primaries. Voters will be choosing the candidates based on personal preference, not policy ideas. Now we just have to wait to see who the state likes more.