The Power of a Clinton's Stare

It is a posture that Barack Obama must be painfully familiar with by now after 20 debates with Hillary Clinton: The Stare. Today, it was John McCain's turn to feel those wide blue eyes boring into him as he spoke up manfully for a deeply unpopular war in Iraq. The senator from Arizona did not last the morning.

"Today it is possible to talk with real hope and optimism about the future of Iraq and the outcome of our efforts there," he said in his opening remarks to the Senate armed services committee.

Clinton, seated at the lower end of the crescent-shaped table, propped her chin up on her hand, the better to hold that unwavering gaze.

McCain went on to utter the word "success" four times in quick succession. It was not possible to tell from the distance of the press tables whether Clinton rolled her eyes before breaking her gaze. But she pursed her lips, looked down and took furious notes.

Officially, the interplay between McCain and Clinton was the sideshow to the testimony of America's commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and the ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, on the gains achieved under last year's troops surge.

But with both McCain and Clinton hoping to follow George Bush into the White House, today's session of the armed services committee was an occasion for both senators to show off their defence credentials or at least try to intimidate their rivals.

Barack Obama is to get his chance to appear presidential later today when Petraeus and Crocker testify to the foreign relations committee.

In this undeclared war between the candidates, there was no stronger weapon at Clinton's disposal than the Stare. In the first Democratic debates, Obama seemed visibly uncomfortable with being the object of Clinton's gaze, and avoided eye contact.

But there were nine aging white males between McCain and Clinton - including his great friend and fellow supporter of the Iraq war, senator Joe Lieberman - which perhaps diluted its power.

The only gap in McCain's presidential persona came when he was interrupted by the shouting of an anti-war protester. "I have had this experience previously Mr Chairman," McCain said, but the display of sangfroid was marred by his strangely adolescent chuckle.

Clinton, wearing a dark suit with vaguely military looking piping on the collar, wore dark rimmed reading glasses. It was the same pair she sported in her campaign television advertisements about her suitability to take the 3am calls at the White House.

McCain used his opening remarks in support of keeping troops in Iraq to paint himself as the only real patriot in the presidential race. He understood the importance of success in Iraq, McCain told the committee.

"This means rejecting, as we did in 2007, the calls for a reckless and irresponsible withdrawal of our forces at the moment when they are succeeding," he said - the implication being of course that America would not be safe with Clinton making decisions in the White House.

Clinton did not blink. "I think it would be fair to say that it might well be irresponsible to continue a policy that has not produced results that have been promised time and time again," she said.

"The administration and supporters of the administration's policy often talk about the costs of leaving Iraq yet ignore the greater cost of continuing the same failed policy," she said.

Then she demanded to know why the Iraqi government was given the opportunity to approve a draft security agreement with the US while Congress was not.

Had McCain still been in the room, it would have amounted to a full-scale onslaught on his Iraq policy. But as the ranking Republican on the committee, he was allowed to speak well before Clinton. By the time her turn came, McCain was long gone.