It’s been a few days since the CNN Democratic Presidential debate, it’s time to wade into the waters of the first debate for Dems.
First of all, just in case this wasn’t obvious already, this is a two-horse race between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and self-avowed socialist Senator Bernie Sanders. If there’s a third horse, it will be Vice-President Joe Biden, who is still on the sidelines. The other three Democrats on the stage (Martin O’Malley, Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb) might as well be horses named Harvey because they were invisible and irrelevant.
Popular opinion throughout the media (both on the left and on the right) was that Hillary won the debate handily. She was easily the most prepared and experienced at debating among the five candidates and it showed. This was her best week all year because, for the first time, the narrative about her was about her strong debate performance and not about her emails. She got an assist during the debate from the most unlikely source, her chief competitor:
Let me say something that may not be great politics. But I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.
— Bernie Sanders
CNN.COM
The partisan Democratic audience went crazy because this was a flat out crazy move by Bernie, and it was clearly something he planned. If you looked at Hillary’s reaction, she was stunned initially by Sanders’ planned gaffe and was laughing about her great luck. Debate moderator Anderson Cooper, to his credit, asked both Chafee and O’Malley to wade in. Chafee offered a tepid criticism about the email scandal: “I think we need someone that has the best in ethical standards as our next president.” Cooper asked Hillary if she wanted to respond and, knowing that she owned the moment, simply responded “No.” It was a magnificent moment for the former Secretary of State because, unless she is actually indicted by the FBI (which is still possible), this email story is now officially a dead issue for the Democratic nominating process.
So what was Bernie thinking? In an interview afterwards, he said it was simply “the right thing to do.” Well, good for you, Bernie, this was a massive gamble (“not great politics,” his own words on stage) that will likely cement Clinton’s front-runner status. Incidentally, there is one one poll that has been released since the debate, it’s a Boston Globe/Suffolk for New Hampshire voters only and it shows Hillary with a two-point edge over Bernie. Sounds close until you realize that, in the previous ten New Hampshire polls (dating back to August), Sanders was ahead in all of them and by an average of 10 percentage points. Is this a debate bump for Hillary or a random fluctuation? Methinks the former.
By the way, Senator Sanders, as a member of the American people for whom you spoke, I am personally not sick and tired about hearing about her “damn emails.” This is an issue, whether there were any laws broken or not, that goes to the heart of Hillary Clinton’s character and integrity. Her excuse that she used a private server and personal email account for all email communications because it was “easier to just have one device” is patently absurd. Anybody who doesn’t understand that the one and only reason to do this was to have control on who would see what is hopelessly naive.
Anyway, I digress. On balance, despite this unforced error, I felt that Bernie Sanders did a mostly good job in this debate in introducing himself to the 15 million debate viewers who might not have known much about him. His fund-raising was already robust (nearly equal to Hillary’s in the 3rd quarter, which is astounding considering the Clinton name recognition) and I expect it to grow. Bernie clearly is the candidate of the young. A Facebook poll taken after the debate showed that 75% of the respondents felt that the socialist senator from Vermont was the winner. There’s actually some controversy about this because many Sanders supporters have been complaining that their Facebook comments were deleted from the CNN website. Conspiracy theories are abounding because Time Warner (CNN’s parent company) is a big donor to Hillary Clinton. Although I felt that Cooper (my classmate at Yale, class of ’89, I never met him) did a fairly good job during the debate, it was clear that he viewed the candidates named O’Malley, Webb and Chafee and nuisances best to be ignored as much as possible.
Anyway, I can’t help but comment on one other thing that Sanders, who freely admits that he is a socialist, said during Tuesday’s debate.
Those are some of the principles that I believe in, and I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people.
— Bernie Sanders
Forgive me for pointing out, Senator Sanders, but the three Scandinavian countries in question have a combined population of 20 million compared to nearly 320 million in the United States. Forgive me for also pointing out that two of those three countries (Norway & Denmark) were occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II; Sweden was technically neutral and actually collaborated a bit with the Germans. The United States rescued Western Europe and has protected the continent for the past 70 years. If you want to live in a socialist utopia, move to Denmark. Good job by Hillary by pointing that out too. Score another one for the former Secretary of State.
OK, no doubt that Hillary Clinton did very well in this debate but there was one thing that she kept repeating that really bugs me every time she says it. I’m referring to her incessant need to remind the American people that she is attempting to be the first woman to be President of the United States. Really, Mrs. Clinton, I hadn’t noticed that you were a woman? And if any of your supporters don’t know that you would be the first woman to hold the Oval Office, then they’re too freaking stupid to vote. This was the former First Lady’s closing line in her opening statement:
Finally, fathers will be able to say to their daughters, you, too, can grow up to be president.
— Hillary Clinton
What she didn’t say was, “of course, it helps if you start your political career by first marrying a man who becomes the President of the United States.”
Does anybody think that Hillary Clinton would have been elected Senator from New York (within months of moving to the state) or Secretary of State if her last name wasn’t Clinton? I’m not saying that she couldn’t have carved a political career of her own independent of her husband, certainly she could have. She is an intelligent, hard-working, dedicated, and formidable woman. But the odds are that if she had married a doctor she would have likely spent her career as a lawyer. Bill Clinton unsuccessfully ran for the House of Representatives in 1974 (one year after graduating law school), successfully ran and became the Arkansas Attorney General in 1976 and was elected Governor in 1978. The Clintons married in 1975 and, although they met at Yale Law School, she didn’t marry a lawyer, she married a politician.
When it comes to the presidency, I just don’t like political dynasties and I’m consistent about this. I supported John McCain over George W. Bush in 2000 and do not have Jeb Bush among my top 4 choices in the current GOP field.
I’m all for crashing the glass ceiling at the highest office in the land, I’d just like it to be someone who crashes the ceiling without an assist from a former president husband.
Finally, regarding this debate, let’s throw a few bones to the also-rans, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee and former Virginia Senator Jim Webb. If I was personally compelled to vote for one of these five Dems, I would pick Webb. The 69-old Webb, a Naval Academny grad, an ex-Marine and former Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan Administration, is my kind of Dem: he’s knowledgeable about international affairs and he’s not a hostage to the EPA (believes in off-shore drilling). He is his own man, not a focus-group tested, political chameleon that is Secretary Clinton.
Unfortunately for Webb, the only thing I can really remember about the debate was how he kept complaining about how little time he was getting. He’s complained since Tuesday that CNN had “rigged” the debate in favor of Clinton and Sanders and he is absolutely correct, but the debate stage wasn’t the time to do it.
As for O’Malley, at 53 years old the only candidate not in his 60’s or 70’s, the only thing I remember is how he stared right at Hillary as she was talking (he was standing right next to her and is much taller). It was kind of creepy actually; he was almost invading her space.
And finally, regarding the 62-year-old Chafee, who served in the Senate prior to becoming Governor in Rhode Island, it was one of the most miserable debate performances I have ever seen. I literally could not believe my ears during this exchange with Anderson Cooper (I’ve put in boldface the most remarkable lines):
COOPER: Governor Chafee, you have attacked Secretary Clinton for being too close to Wall Street banks. In 1999 you voted for the very bill that made banks bigger.
CHAFEE: The Glass-Steagall was my very first vote, I’d just arrived, my dad had died in office, I was appointed to the office, it was my very first vote.
COOPER: Are you saying you didn’t know what you were voting for?
CHAFEE: I‘d just arrived at the Senate. I think we’d get some takeovers, and that was one. It was my very first vote, and it was 92-5. It was the…
COOPER: … what does that say about you that you’re casting a vote for something you weren’t really sure about?
CHAFEE: I think you’re being a little rough. I’d just arrived at the United States Senate. I’d been mayor of my city. My dad had died. I’d been appointed by the governor. It was the first vote and it was 90-5, because it was a conference report.
OK, I’m sorry Governor Chafee about your father, I have felt that loss. But are you kidding me? “You’re being a little rough.” Really? This a man we want in the Oval Office dealing with the likes of Vladimir Putin? What a pathetic, weak answer that was. Time to get out sir.
Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough here.
Thanks for reading.
Chris Bodig