Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama veered from collegial to clenched and combative in a debate on Thursday, with Mrs Clinton turning especially aggressive as she all but accused Mr Obama of plagiarism and derided his political message as “change you can Xerox.”
Mr Obama, buoyed by 11 straight victories in the most recent nominating contests, sought to maintain a positive tone throughout, though at one point he accused Mrs Clinton of suggesting that his supporters were “delusional” or “being duped” by his themes of hope and unity.
Those few sharp rejoinders, as well as an emotional closing comment by Mrs Clinton that seemed to move the audience — and even Mr Obama — were the most memorable moments in a debate that had been loaded with expectation, with Mrs Clinton seeking to stop the Obama juggernaut. After the 90-minute face-off was over, it was not clear that Mrs Clinton, in the toughest position of the campaign for her, had done enough to change the course of the contest.
Mrs Clinton, who is girding for March 4 Democratic primaries in Texas and Ohio that aides say she must win, alternated between high notes early in the debate — smiling and nodding at Mr Obama, pitching her economic plans for the umpteenth time — and pointed criticisms that she has been making somewhat fruitlessly for weeks now, like portraying Mr Obama as all talk and little action.
In her sharpest attack to date on the originality of his oratory and ideas, Mrs Clinton cited news reports about Mr Obama’s nearly verbatim use of remarks first delivered by a close ally, Gov Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. She argued that Mr Obama had drawn great praise for his speeches, and then questioned whether they had been plagiarized.
Playing off a trademark line of Mr Obama’s, she said: “Lifting whole passages from someone else’s speeches is not change you can believe in. It’s change you can Xerox.” The comment elicited loud groans and some applause from the audience at the University of Texas at Austin.
Mr Obama softly spoke over her, saying, “Oh, but that’s not what happened there,” yet eventually chose not to engage, saying he wanted to reply only to her criticism on the issues.
