Obama Walks a Thin Line

With Obama stealthily creeping up on Hillary Clinton’s lead, it was reasonable to assume that that it would not take long into this debate to see what has changed in the dynamic between the two.

What Obama’s best strategy is has been the subject of much debate, with opinions mostly wavering between whether he should strive to sharply contrast himself from Clinton and other candidates, or whether it would be wiser to instead appear as the “uniter”, above the fray. The last debate has shown Obama’s leaning towards the former opinion; he clashed with Clinton on several issues, and turned away from his earlier position of eschewing “party politics.”

In what will be the last debate before the Iowa caucus, Obama seems to have spun around 180 degrees, taking his opportunity of giving a non prompted statement to stress how his policies would unite the country

This plan is not a well thought out one, as to merely “unite” the candidates will serve only to reinforce the static characteristics that the Democratic polls have had until recently. As such, if Obama truly wishes to differentiate himself from his opponents, it’s time to make a stand, and this afternoon will be his last real chance to do so.