Five Observations after Last Night’s Debate

Last night the five declared presidential candidates from the Democratic Party squared off in the inaugural debate of the year for that side of American politics. The event was palpably different from the previous two Republican iterations, and revealed at least five things to me.

1. The Democratic candidates are, on the whole, more serious than the Republicans. The substance of the evening’s fare was far more wonkish than either of the Republican debates, and you know you’re getting to genuine policy differences when you’re talking about the weaknesses of the Glass-Steagall provisions of the U.S. Banking Act. The Republicans simply never approached this level of discussion (which, to be fair, owes at least partly to the fact that the Republicans fielded something like 12,355 candidates in their prime time debate). Now that is not to say, of course, that the Republicans have no serious candidates (or that all of the Democrats are serious candidates), but that the debate last night was a more serious affair than the theater performances of the previous GOP showdowns.
2. Hillary is not quite as vulnerable as everyone predicted. The former First Lady, Senator from New York, and Secretary of State has been through the wringer over the last few years, with accusations flying from Republicans and Democrats about her use of a private email server, political flip-flops, and handling of security at the Benghazi Consulate before Ambassador Chris Stevens was brutally murdered by extremists in 2012. But in the debate, Secretary Clinton looked every bit as presidential as her campaign staffers hoped, and handled even the toughest questions with aplomb. Clinton the candidate still has major problems, but last night was a big step forward for the woman who was once thought to be a shoo-in for the future vacancy at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
3. Lincoln Chaffee looked about as comfortable as Ted Cruz in the Ayatollah’s parlor. The poor guy entered the debate needing to make a strong statement to America about his qualifications for the presidency, but he ended up making a strong statement of a different sort. His answers were shaky and largely nonsensical, and he ended up meandering his way through a non-explanation of why he has only been a democrat for two years. I guess it’s pretty much par for the course for the guy, whose campaign launch announcement New Republic called “the worst of the year.” And that’s saying something, because Trump’s was difficult to top.
4. Donald Trump is such an entertainer. Really, it is pretty impressive that Trump was able to successfully co-opt so much of the attention of the debate. I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that a casino magnate should know how to grab the spotlight, but it doesn’t cease to amaze me. There are two further points worth mentioning, though: a) Trump’s diametrically opposite policy positions on major issues like immigration and his popularity as a candidate highlight the dangerous polarity of American politics right now, and b) the use of Twitter’s 140-character microblogs as soundbite propagation platforms prove the devastating inanity of American politics right now. To think that we can articulate positions on Glass-Steagall through 140 characters is, well, reckless.
5. Bernie has real appeal. If you had told me a year ago that Bernie Sanders would be anything more than a spoiler candidate in a nomination contest, I would have laughed. As Anderson Cooper pointed out last night, Sanders supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, honeymooned in the USSR, and is a self-professed socialist. But Bernie stuck to his guns (campaign finance reform, Wall Street reform, and action on climate change) and got real support from the audience. According to one estimate, he gained nearly 50,000 followers across his two Twitter accounts. He looked vulnerable on gun control (his one-time C- from the NRA is outmatched by the F ratings for Clinton and O’Malley), but his core message has real appeal for the young independent-leaning demographic of the democratic party.

There’s an awful lot more I could say, but I’ll leave it there for now. Thoughts are welcome in the comments below. Don’t forget to follow @gangstapundit and @halfwithammer on Twitter for live coverage of the next debate (28 October, 8pm ET).