THE DEMOCRAT DEBATE

January 18, 2016
by Ken Berwitz
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Ken Berwitz


I watched only part of the Democrats\’ presidential debate last night – mostly after we got home from visiting our older son, our beautiful daughter (in law) – I put that in parentheses because we think of her more as a daughter – and our transcendentally spectacular grandchildren.

What I got from it was that all three candidates did very well in laying out their positions.  All three made strong points about those positions.  And, while a good many of them were left wing pandering that I could have easily lived without, on some issues – especially accountability from corrupt financial institutions – they were on target.

I am linking you to the debate comments posted by powerlineblog.com\’s Paul Mirengoff because, on the parts that I have seen, we agree.  Plus, I\’m intrigued by Paul\’s ending:

…the NBC moderators, especially Andrea Mitchell, went easieron Clinton than on Sanders and Martin O’Malley. The first issue-specificquestion of the debate was about Sanders\’ past position on gun manufacturerliability – his main weakness as far as Democrats are concerned. Later, he wasaccused of flip-flopping on taxes for the middle class and chided for releasinga new plan on taxes (I think) just a few hours before the debate.

O’Malley was asked whether his law and order policies asmayor of Baltimore (years ago) are responsible for the recent problems the cityhas experienced.

Meanwhile Clinton, who is vulnerable to tough questions on somany fronts, was not asked anything that might have made her play defense untilalmost three-quarters of the debate had passed (and most viewers probably hadtuned out). At that point, she was asked about her Russian reset. She claimedit was a success until Putin spoiled things by coming back to power in 2011. Ikid you not.

To conclude, Clinton debated well but I don\’t thinkSanders will be derailed like he was by the first debate. Those inclined toview Sanders favorably are likely to be impressed by what they saw tonight.

To this, I would add that – for whatever it is worth – last night was Martin O\’Malley\’s best debate performance.  He was smooth, had his facts and positions ready, and articulated them well.  If Democrats, most of whom would agree with just about everything Mr. O\’Malley said, are at all taking him seriously as a candidate, he will make some kind of upward move because of it.  If he doesn\’t see that upward move, I doubt there is any hope for him.

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