Well, the first Democratic presidential debate is now history. If you didn’t watch the entire two-hour-plus yawn fest, don’t feel badly; you didn’t miss much.
CNN and Facebook, which sponsored the debate, had to be disappointed that they weren’t able to use the lectern they had waiting in the wings in case Joe Biden showed up. He didn’t. The world is still waiting to hear whether he will enter the race.
Word is he watched the debate back home in Delaware with some friends and family. If that’s true, he must have been sorely disappointed to see that Hillary Clinton did not commit a significant gaffe. In fact, I have to say that she surprised me by totally dominating the night. She was well-prepared, ready to rattle off answers on every topic thrown at her. And she actually seemed pleasant doing it. Her staff’s efforts to make her to seem personable worked; the grim-faced harridan some of us expected to show up was nowhere to be seen.
A highlight of the night came when Sen. Bernie Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist from Vermont, turned to Hillary and said, “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.” While the crowd roared its agreement, Hillary turned to him, stuck out her hand, and said, “Thank you, Bernie.”
As the evening made clear, Hillary should thank Sanders for a lot more than that one comment. Sanders’ entire campaign has done the seemingly impossible; it’s made her seem almost moderate by comparison. Heck, at one point she even distanced herself from Sanders attacks on capitalism, saying it would be a “big mistake” to abandon the system that built America’s middle class.
If you think this sounds like the script for a mediocre reality show, you’re right; it does. Hillary should thank her lucky stars (or someone) that Bernie Sanders was on stage next to her, spouting off on the need for a socialist revolution in this country.
Sanders seemed like an angry scold as he yelled that this country should offer free medical care for everyone (yes, even including the 11 million immigrants, or whatever the number, who are here illegally), that public colleges and universities should be free for everyone who wants to attend, and that all of those greedy millionaires and billionaires should be forced to pay for these programs and a whole lot more.
Of course, if he were able to take every single penny that the much-despised 1 percent earn or own, it wouldn’t be enough to pay for the massive increase in government spending that he advocates. As Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister of Britain, observed: “The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.” If Sanders ever had his way, it would be a whole lot sooner.
But wait a minute. Weren’t there five people participating in the debate? What about the other three?
By the end of the evening, it was hard to see why two of them — former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee — even bothered to show up. To describe them as lightweights would be to exaggerate their importance. Mother Jones magazine even ran an article about Webb with this headline: “Is Jim Webb really running for president?” The guy has been almost invisible on the campaign trail. And Chafee came across as just plain weird.
Martin O’Malley, the third unknown on stage, smiled a lot and gave some smooth answers. But nothing he said electrified the highly partisan crowd — or even seemed to interest it very much. Hard to see how he can make himself a significant presence in the race, with Hillary and Bernie sucking all the oxygen out of the room.
The moderator for Tuesday night’s debate was Anderson Cooper, one of CNN’s media stars. And I have to say, he came prepared to ask some tough questions. I was surprised by just how confrontational he was on occasion. Not that it mattered very much; the participants pretty much ignored whatever question he asked and gave the set speech that was next on their list of talking points.
Will this first Democratic debate actually change anything? Probably not. Hillary will still be leading in the polls; Sanders will still draw big crowds to hear his socialist rants. And the other candidates will stay invisible.
So, I suspect, will Joe Biden. Hillary Clinton is too experienced, too practiced and too well-prepared to self-destruct. But unless she makes a near-fatal mistake, I don’t see Biden trying to interrupt her march to White House.
But a Clinton candidacy is probably a good thing. I can’t think of any other potential candidate who would motivate conservatives as much to defeat her. No, not even crazy Uncle Bernie.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
Chip Wood was the first news editor of The Review of the News and also wrote for American Opinion, our two predecessor publications. He is now the geopolitical editor of Personal Liberty Digest. This article first appeared on PersonalLiberty.com and has been reprinted with permission.
