I had fun once before with Jacques Berlinerblau, a professor at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service specializing in Jewish studies. Once again, he gives me an excuse to be amused. Last night, Hillary and Obama went at each other at what was dubbed the "compassion forum" on faith and values at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. No surprise, since they are in a ferocious primary battle. This is how the New York Times describes the event:

Both Mrs. Clinton and Senator Barack Obama gave thoughtful, pious answers to questions about faith and moral values at the CNN event held at Messiah College near Harrisburg, Pa. But Mrs. Clinton, who spoke first, didn’t shrink from also going on the attack.

In answer to a question, she decried what she called Mr. Obama’s lack of faith in American values, labeling a description he gave of "bitter" voters in small-town Pennsylvania as "elitist, out of touch and, frankly, patronizing." And with a straight face, Mrs. Clinton simultaneously claimed the high ground, saying twice that she would allow Mr. Obama to speak for himself on the matter, noting "he does an excellent job of that."

When it was his turn, Mr. Obama tried to explain that his remark, which he said was "clumsy," had been misunderstood by critics and distorted for political gain by Mrs. Clinton. (Last week, he told donors in San Francisco that some working-class people "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" as a way to explain their frustrations.) But the television camera has a way of zooming in on discomfort. Mr. Obama sounded defensive, and his explanations were stilted and uneven.

Ah, except of course for the silly professor. Berlinerblau wrote this about the forum the other day in the Washington Post:

y guess is that senators Obama and Clinton will discuss at length what they view as the wrongfulness of (the absent) John McCain’s policies, not to mention those of the party that he represents.

This raises the question as to why the Senator from Arizona declined the invitation to participate from the sponsoring group, Faith in Public Life.

One possibility is that he didn’t want to prevent the Democrats from continuing to kick one another’s heads in. The Obama and Clinton campaigns are not only sapping one another’s energy (and money) but graciously identifying weaknesses in one another’s candidates for the GOP to exploit in the fall.

Still, if this was McCain’s rationale I think he was mistaken. For my prediction is that Obama and Clinton will suppress their reflexes and refrain from enfilading one another. Those expecting a repeat of that raucous, zinger-filled Congressional Black Caucus Institute Debate with its parrying, pugilism and perfect ill-will are likely to be disappointed. On the contrary, the senators will be doing the discursive equivalent of wearing their Sunday Best.

One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.

All you know is offer up quotes. You in no way present an analysis or inquiry as to why you disagree with the opinions expressed. Are we supposed to read your mind and extract the opinions thereupon? Or is this simply an example of laziness? Either way I think I prefer Berlinerblau's estimate to yours- the man at least took the time to explicate his position, whereas you only hinted at it.