Well, I finally found what I was looking for in the debate--something that's been lacking in most of the discussion of the relative merits of the two so far--where they differ on the substantive issues. I found it absolutely fasicanating. At points, I found myself wishing--wow, I wish they could BOTH be president.
I would highlight the key differences I picked up in terms of more or less conservative:
Obama has a more conservative health care plan (it's not mandatory), Hillary's is more liberal.
Hillary is more conservative on the issues of immigration and foreign policy.
I think both did well in the debate. . .if I had to choose a winner I'd probably have to say Obama-- but only on the strength of their stances on the war. Obama's consistent opposition to the war (and the rather convenient fact that he wasn't ABLE to vote for or against it in the Senate) was much easier for him to defend than for her to explain why she voted to authorize the use of force. What Obama says on the war really resonates with me, personally, since I also felt the war was a bad idea, bad strategy etc from the very beginning.
the more cynical side of me thinks that Clinton (and a lot of the Democrats) weren't so enthused about the war either but voted yes anyway because they didn't want to be painted as unpatriotic and soft by Republican opponents later. In short, I think they sold out. Also cynically, I wonder if Obama might not have sold out too had he been in the position to do so. I would hope not but I have doubts.
On the whole, I got the sense that both candidates were playing to the nation tonight--thinking beyond the primaries, and figuring a lot of people are going to be watching tonight--independents, moderate Republicans etc and they're thinking is "we want to make sure that we BOTH look good to them." As one CNN commentator pointed out, they'll save the harsher attacks for the campaigning in the states over the next few days--but for the debate, I think they were already looking ahead to when one of the two will be the Democratic nominee.
I completely agree. It really tells you something about our country. 
