There were several moments in the first night of the second set of debates that deserve comment, but one stuck out for me. The overall course was the moderates attacking Senators Warren and Sanders. Senator Warren responded by saying, I don’t understand why anybody would go to the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for.
One piece of advice I received from my mother that came to mind was that, even if your reach fell short of the stars, you were much more likely to attain the Moon than if you never tried. The night is summed up when Senator Warren’s comment is combined with Mayor Pete’s observation: It’s time to stop worrying about what the Republicans will say. It’s true that [if] we embrace a far left agenda, they’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. If we embrace a conservative agenda, you know what they’re going to do? They’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialist. Let’s stand up for the right policy, go up there and defend it.
Let’s just be satisfied with the scraps Republicans leave, if any, is not going to inspire the turnout the Democrats need to win. Turnout is the key for both sides. Those on stage last night characterized as “moderates” were not really moderates. They should be running in the Republican primaries. I would include at least Gov. John Hickenlooper, Gov. Steve Bullock, Sen Amy Klobuchar and Rep Tim Ryan. I find Beto O’Rourke to be on the cusp and I have doubts as to his being able to regain the momentum with which he began.
Former insurance salesman John Delaney need not withdraw from the race. Bernie’s responses to him last night will suffice as his political obituary. New Age guru Marianne Williamson apparently suggests beating Trump over the head with love. She is a progressive celebrity, of sorts, but somehow seems convinced she should be taken as a serious candidate. We should be able to whittle last night’s assortment to Mayor Pete, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie and possibly Beto.
When the next cut is made, Beto will be gone, As I have said before, Bernie had a ticket on the last train but his time has passed, though it was due to the shenanigans of the DNC and not his fault. Warren can carry his message quite well.
At least they didn’t have a show of hands as they did in Miami. That doesn’t represent the complexities of any of the issues. I do think that the push for some of the progressive ideas could be couched in ways that are not going to turn off some of the support they deserve. Medicare For All with the addition of coverage Bernie has included does not need to be burdened by the albatross of totally eliminating private health insurance. True, a clean break could destroy the insurance parasites, but it’s a difficult sell to many who like what they have, even though universal care would be better — and cheaper.
The “moderates” claim that the hard-won health insurance benefits of union members would be discarded. The problem they fail to recognize is that as people lose their jobs, they also lose their health insurance. There is a rumor that a couple of jobs have been lost due to automation, shifting the work overseas and the appetites of Amazon and other corporations that may not offer decent benefits.
We should be down to 3 from last night’s panel. We’ll see how much dross we can eliminate tonight.
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