I thought Hillary did well last night, as well as she and her supporters could have hoped. She's a class act. My problem is that it's an act. We have put way too much importance on presidents looking good and way too little on them being good, in terms of policy.
It seems a bit silly to me to argue about who 'won' the debate. Not because I thought my guy, Bernie, lost, I don't think that at all, but because people who have already chosen a candidate will see it through the 'optics' of their preexisting views. I'm sure Hillary won in the eyes of her supporters and the same goes for Bernie and his supporters. I think all of that is beside the point.
As many have noted, there was a stark contrast between the republican debates and the substantive arguments made last night by the democratic candidates. It's the clowns and 'carnival barkers' versus the grown-ups.
There were also contrasts between the democratic candidates, perhaps subtler but no less important contrasts. While Bernie was characteristically blunt, others were threading needles, back peddling and dodging questions.
Webb – scary fucker, don't throw a hand-grenade at him.
O'Malley – polished, self-absorbed and devoid of honest emotion.
Chafee – goofy and uninteresting. His claim to fame? Never had a scandal.
Hillary – polished and charming but threading needles and dodging questions, particularly on Iraq and Wall Street.
Bernie – blunt and honest with the best interests of the American people clearly at heart.
Except for Bernie, they were all performers in the classic sense. They were trying to look presidential. Hillary won that competition. She was smooth and well rehearsed. I'd give O'Malley a not-so-close second on that point. He was very polished and well-spoken but his determined effort to immediately turn every answer to his record, while maybe a 'smart' debate tactic, underscored what he is most interested in, himself.
I would remind everyone that there was one guy on that stage not rolling in corporate and Wall Street money: Bernie Sanders. He's not just another politician, he's a stand out, an exceptional case. He is motivated by his laudatory and lofty principles, to which he has remained doggedly committed for 50 years - not by greed, power-lust or self-interest. He means to change things in this country and it's about damned time someone did.
We are faced with a perfectly clear choice: elect an establishment politician and get what we've always gotten, more of the same, or break the mold and elect a people's champion. And not just elect him but stand up by the millions to fight back against the billionaire class just as he is asking us to do. He is offering us the political revolution we have waited for, worked for, cried for and prayed for. He's challenging us to stand up and fight back. We'd be fools not to.
And as for Hillary representing Wall Street, please be reminded that dairy farmers didn't rip off the whole world, Wall Street did.