There’s only a little more than a year until the much-anticipated general presidential election of 2016, and that means it’s time to pull out the lawn signs, slap on the bumper stickers, and share all the Facebook ads of your favored candidates.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, election season is in full bloom, and there was no better way to spend it than watching the first Democratic Primary debate on CNN. Last Tuesday, the five candidates squared off and took center stage, and everything went, well, exactly as it was expected to go.
Out of the five candidates, the one who entered the debate least favored and least known was none other than Jim Webb. He’s a former Vietnam veteran and wanted to make sure people heard what he had to say. Several times throughout the night, he called out moderator Anderson Cooper and claimed that he was not receiving the same amount of talking time as the other candidates. Statistical checks, which were run after the debate, confirmed that he was accurate and did in fact receive a few minutes less than the other candidates. Who is he kidding, though? Thiswas a debate between Clinton and Sanders, and he should be smart enough to know that.
Next up in this dissection is the former governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley. While an obviously charming and polished politician, it is impossible to take him seriously after knowing that the biggest city in the State he was in charge of was on fire just months ago due to political unrest. He isn’t hopeless, but he falls into the same tub as any candidate that isn’t Clinton or Sanders.
It appeared to the viewers that he was giving up as a candidate at the end of the debate, where instead of urging votes for him, he asked for votes for the Democratic Party. It was a smart move from someone with single digit poll numbers. It is possible once he inevitably drops out of the race, the nominee might pick him up for the ticket as a Vice Presidential nominee.
Third on our list of the Democratic nominees is former Republican Lincoln Chaffee. I have nothing to say about him other than the fact that he had an honest shot as a moderate conservative Democrat and he blew it with every question Cooper threw at him. As unprepared as he came off, he still appeared more level-headed than any of the GOP nominees during their debate.
Bernie Sanders, a favorite among millennials and a fast gainer in the polls, was playing the hits. He came out with a classic and immediately distinguished himself as a democratic socialist, meaning someone who believes in a socialist economy, but with a popular election similar to that of Norway or Denmark; two of the happiest nations on Earth. He covered the cost of tuition, unchecked pharmaceutical companies, Wall Street bankers and above all, he covered the top tenth of one percent income earners of this country, who rake in hundreds of billions of dollars a year and pay a tax rate only slightly above that of the average American. Bernie has been talking about it for months, and he finally was able to let it out during a debate. Post-debate polls showed that he was a favorite among viewers, including myself.
Last, while certainly not least, was Hillary Clinton, the former first lady and Secretary of State. While I personally do not want her to win simply because she would be another Clinton in the White House, which makes it look like a single family is controlling this country, it is impossible to say she is not qualified and doesn’t deserve to win the whole thing. She came off incredibly likable and gracefully professional, but also strong and full of stern energy. It is not unlikely she will be our first woman President.
I am a supporter of Bernie Sanders. I have a “Feel the Bern” coffee mug on my Christmas wish list. In order to seriously see him win, however, he would have had to knock out Hilary in this debate. Instead of knocking her out, he simply won the fight after going the distance. It will also be too hard to convince the population that socialism is what this country needs if the Democrats want to nominate him. He was the most passionate of all the candidates and his campaign among young people makes me very proud. I am happy to see that my generation is talking about politics because of him.
Although it was a race between Clinton and Sanders, in the end, almost every candidate came across as more intelligent and professional than their GOP counterparts, who appeared to be speaking in an auditorium that had a gas leak. Whereas the GOP debate was full of hysteria, name-calling, and liberal uses of exaggerated false claims, the Democratic debate focused more on the issues.
The true hero of the night was Anderson Cooper, who moderated the debate with expertise. Sure, some questions were irrelevant like the legalization of marijuana and if black lives or all lives matter, but most of the queries were principled and challenged the candidates a fair amount.
As much as I like Sanders, Clinton came to win, and she will. It’s as simple as that. If she receives the nomination, I wish her well and if she continues to present herself the way she did last Tuesday and holds true to her words, I am looking forward to the direction she takes this country as the next President of the United States.