Much was learned from the first Democratic presidential debate. The most obvious thing is that the cast of characters running on the Democratic side is a serious bunch, in sharp contrast to the clown car represented by the Republican cast of characters.
Also, any real progressive or liberal should have no problem voting for four out of the five candidates who appeared on that stage. And yes, Jim Webb may be in the wrong party, based on the visible discomfort he displayed toward more progressive topics.
Here are five big takeaways from the first Democratic debate for the 2016 presidential race:
- The American corporatocracy is scared of Bernie Sanders. By all empirical measures, Bernie Sanders won the debate. He won it on Twitter. He won it in polls on most of the TV websites and on blog sites. Immediately after the debate there were no scientific polls, but there were reactions from focus groups on Fox and CNN. Sanders won them both. So why was there a blanket acceptance by the national punditry that Sanders won? Why were they all talking in unison? They had to. Sanders held his own and immediately became plausible to millions who had no clue who he is or what he represents.
- The Democratic Party is no longer in the grip of the DLC. The Democratic Party on stage at the Democratic debate was not a centrist party. It was not a center-left party. It was a populist party. Even Hillary Clinton did her best to dispel her infatuation with pleading guilty to being a moderate, and boldly claimed she is a progressive.
More takeaways are below.
- The Democratic candidates are a serious bunch. There were a lot of substantive issues discussed at the debate, many of which are important but aren't generally discussed. Glass-Steagall, banking, health care, and much more actually took center stage. Of course silliness had to be inserted somewhere. The traditional mainstream media did its job in showing their shallow disregard and lack of seriousness.
- Americans are very interested in what Democrats have to say. Many expected a lackluster viewership of the Democratic debate. Why? Many accepted the narrative that the outcome is a foregone conclusion, and Hillary Clinton will be crowned as the Democratic nominee. The punditry, led by the pronouncements of their darling Donald Trump, were proven wrong. More than 15 million Americans tuned in. That is the highest viewership of any Democratic primary debate ever. While it's true that viewership didn't match the Republican debate's, it's understood that the spectacle would have gotten higher numbers regardless, given its clown car nature.
- Democrats are very satisfied with President Obama’s path for the country. There was not one policy critique of President Obama. In fact, every candidate tried their best to be as close to him as possible. Even better, they all wanted to expand on his policies—from health care to immigration to education assistance and more.
The debate was a big win for the Democratic Party. The debate was a big win for Black Lives Matter. The debate was a big win for college students. The debate was a big win for our Social Security and Medicare systems. The debate was a big win for health care. Why? Because all of these issues were brought up—not in some tepid checklist form, but addressed with full-throated support. The populist economic message Bernie Sanders has been expounding for decades has finally gone mainstream. The social justice message Black Lives Matter forced into the Democratic Party's lexicon has gone mainstream.
Even as Hillary Clinton went out of her way to practically say "Hallelujah" that we are not Denmark, she virtually endorsed Democratic Socialism, even if not by name. She calls it protecting capitalism from itself, as she supports most of Bernie Sander's populist agenda in some less "drastic" form.
Chris Hayes said it best when he described one of the best exchanges between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. "It was effectively a coming out for a Democratic Party that is massively different than it was 20 years ago, when progressive ideas were anathema to many Democratic candidates," Hayes said. "In fact, when Democrats running for high office often did everything they could to distance themselves as much as possible from the party's left flank. On the notion of a serious exchange involving the relative merit of capitalism and Democratic Socialism, involving the two front runners of the party's nomination would have seemed pretty laughable."
So what does it all mean? Just like Obamacare is the bridge—whether some believe it or not—to single-payer healthcare or Medicare for all, the Democratic Party's new embrace of populism can be the bridge to America's form of Democratic Socialism. We can support either Democratic front runner guilt-free, as long as it's acknowledged that grassroots pressure will be required to ensure the next Democratic president makes these promises a reality.