Clinton Clears High Hurdle in Repelling Trump

Hillary Clinton may have come into the first presidential debate with a higher hurdle to clear. As an experienced senator and cabinet secretary, the former first lady could not merely get through the uninterrupted 90-minute debate without making a mistake or losing her cool. She had to excel, reach the top-of-the curve grade, all while managing to look serious and responsible while still connecting with voters.

With a series of well-prepared zingers and equally well-prepared answers to predicable questions about her email server, race relations, tax policy (for Donald Trump and the nation) and international alliances, Clinton delivered. And she owes much of her performance to her opponent.

While Clinton managed a smiling-but-not-too-smiley expression and kept her voice even and measured, Trump was all over the map, starting out in measured tones but quickly sputtering and interrupting as Clinton criticized him and the debate monitor, Lester Holt, corrected a couple of his statements. Twitter was brutal, with even Republican operatives lambasting Trump for being incoherent and meandering. And that was on top of the ridicule for Trump's frequent sniffling.

Clinton was at the ready. When Trump was asked to detail how he would bring jobs from overseas back to the U.S., the businessman discussed a tax cut for businesses. "I call it Trumped-up trickle down," Clinton said, accusing Trump of offering a tax plan that would benefit wealthy men such as himself.

Or supposed wealthy men, Clinton mused as they got to the next topic, Trump's unreleased tax returns. Maybe the real reason Trump won't release them is not because of a tax audit, but because "maybe he's not as rich as he says he is. Maybe he's not as charitable as he claims to be," Clinton surmised, clearly referring to stories showing Trump has collected cash for his Trump Foundation and used it to settle legal disputes (and to buy a painting of himself).

When Trump repeated a campaign line popular with his own supporters -- that he would release his tax returns when Clinton released the thousands of emails still undisclosed to the public -- Clinton was ready again: "I think you've seen another example of bait and switch here," she said.

On the question that might have tripped her up, that of her email server, Clinton uttered an answer that sounded like she must have practiced it in front of a mirror. "I'm not going to make any excuses. It was a mistake, and I take responsibility for that." Holt did not press her further on the matter.

And on another matter that could hurt Clinton among liberals in her party, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Clinton parried with a not-so-subtle reference to the realty TV shows that have kept him in the public eye. "Donald, I know you live in your own reality," Clinton said when Trump accused her of being a secret backer of the trade pact. "But that is not the fact."

While Trump appeared visibly agitated, leaning into the microphone and interrupting both Clinton and Holt, Clinton kept her cool. When Trump tried to talk over her, she continued to deliver her responses as though he were a heckler 20 rows back. Trump appeared to grow increasingly frustrated, amusing Clinton. "I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate," Clinton said after Trump suggested she had not traveled as much as he had in recent days. "And, yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president. And I think that's a good thing."

Clinton slammed him for "stiffing" his contractors, people she said she has met who were not paid for the work they did for Trump's casinos and hotels (Trump countered that perhaps he was dissatisfied with their work).

And when Trump had an opportunity to make some inroads with African-Americans and Latinos, if only by suggesting Clinton was taking their votes for granted, Clinton latched on to a very powerful issue for black voters: the "birther" campaign Trump himself conducted.

"He tried to put the whole racist birther lie to bed, but it can't be dismissed that easily. He has really started his political activity based on this racist lie that our first black president was not an American citizen," she said.

[RECAP: Trump, Clinton Spar in First Presidential Debate]

Clinton used the first question to do what the debate structure did not allow -- deliver an opening statement. In it, she proclaimed her commitment to such liberal issues as raising the federal minimum wage, debt-free college and advancing gender pay equity. She went off on a tangent on another question to get in a dig not offered by any of the questions -- his remarks about women. "Words matter," Clinton said, reminding Trump that he had referred top women as fat slobs, pigs and dogs.

Trump, who is trailing among a group he needs to do well with -- white, college-educated women -- had little defense, other than to say that TV personality Rosie O'Donnell, one of the targets of his slurs, "deserved it." When Clinton reminded Trump that he had called a beauty contestant "Miss Piggy" and another "Miss Housekeeping" because she was Latina, he talked over her and demanded to know where she was getting her information. "Alicia Machado," Clinton quickly responded, adding that Machado was now a citizen and planning to vote.

And what about that stamina Trump claims to have, more than Clinton? The former secretary of state chuckled, noting that she had been to 112 countries and handled 11 hours of testifying before a congressional committee. And well after Trump left the room, Clinton was still there, shaking hands.

Susan Milligan is a political and foreign affairs writer and contributed to a biography of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, "Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy." Follow her on Twitter: @MilliganSusan