Debate Obama-Clinto aquece!

Obama-Clinton Debate Starts Warm, Heats Up

The 90-minute debate was held at the University of Texas and sponsored by CNN, Univision and the Texas Democratic Party. It was aired on CNN and moderated by CNN's Campbell Brown. CNN's John King and Univision's Jorge Ramos also asked questions.

Clinton and Obama barely exchanged hellos when they were introduced to the audience. In opening statements, the senator from New York stressed her Texas connections dating back more than 30 years, while Obama hit hard on economic themes that have become an increasingly larger part of his message in recent days.

In the aftermath of Fidel Castro's resignation, the two debated Cuba policy and whether they would meet the island nation's new leader without preconditions. Clinton said no and Obama said yes, but he added that he would do so only with plenty of preparation. They also discussed immigration, a subject on which they largely agreed.

But when the debate turned to their plans for reforming the health-care system, the two continued what has been a long argument over how to achieve universal coverage. Clinton pressed again her charge that Obama's plan, which does not require people to buy coverage, would leave 15 million uninsured. She also noted that his plan requires parents to obtain insurance for their children.

"If you do not have a plan that starts out attempting to achieve universal health care, you will be nibbled to death, and we will be back here with more and more people uninsured and rising costs," she said.

Obama countered by pointing out that the Massachusetts plan for universal care, which includes a mandate, has run into problems that the state is now grappling with. "Understand that both of us seek to get universal health care. I have a substantive difference with Senator Clinton on how to get there," he said.

But he went further, criticizing his rival for the way she and her husband managed their efforts in 1993 and 1994 to change the system. "Senator Clinton and the administration went behind closed doors, excluded the participation even of Democratic members of Congress who had slightly different ideas than the ones that Senator Clinton had put forward," he said. "And, as a consequence, it was much more difficult to get Congress to cooperate. . . . I'm going to do things differently."

With the battle for Ohio looming, Clinton took the more populist tone that Obama has been adopting since the Wisconsin competition earlier this week. Obama repeated his pledge to renegotiate trade accords, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, one of the biggest achievements of Bill Clinton's presidency.

But this time, his rival had a response. She said she would establish a new "trade prosecutor" to ensure that labor, environmental and safety standards in existing trade deals are being enforced. She again called for a "timeout" before pursuing additional free trade agreements to examine which treaties are working and which are not.

On the nation's credit crunch, she stood by her proposal to declare a 90-day moratorium on mortgage foreclosures and a five-year interest rate freeze on existing, adjustable-rate mortgages, despite withering criticism from economists -- and from Obama -- that the plan would wreck the housing market and send new mortgage rates into the stratosphere.

Asked whether Obama was prepared to serve as commander in chief, Clinton did not accuse her rival of lacking the experience for the role, saying it is up to voters to make that call. She repeated her description of herself as ready for the job on "Day One," and cited a litany of recent world events -- including attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade and recent elections in Pakistan -- that would require a high level of understanding.

Obama said his candidacy is based on his belief that he is ready to be president. "I wouldn't be running if I didn't think I was prepared to be commander in chief," he said. "My number one job as president would be to keep the American people safe, and I will do whatever is required to accomplish that."

And he returned, in forceful language, to what has long been his primary example of judgment: the war in Iraq. He said that "Senator Clinton was wrong in her judgment" on that vote in a way "that now has consequences," because it has diverted efforts away from Afghanistan and the hunt for al-Qaeda. Obama also said he was "right" on the question of Pakistan when he argued against banking on Gen. Pervez Musharraf to the exclusion of other Pakistani leaders.

"I have shown the judgment to lead," he said.

Staff writer Jonathan Weisman contributed to this report. IN WWW.WASHINGTONPOST.COM