Quick Reflections on Last Night’s Democratic Debate
The candidates who made the most sense to me in their comments and presentations were Mayor Pete and Amy Klobuchar. Maybe it’s because I grew up as a Midwesterner and still have that outlook. The battleground for the next general election is the industrial and rural Midwest, and they get this. Amy needs to remember that very few people in this country know what Section 8 housing is or the “boyfriend loophole”. Pete and Amy are each showing great judgment on nearly every issue they address.
Bernie Sanders stuck to his guns on all of his issues from single payer health care to universal child care and pre-K education, to Cuba and US interference in Latin America. He seems unflappable and undeterred by anything anyone else says. I like his visions for domestic priorities, but I am very skeptical about his financing plans.
Elizabeth Warren is wasting her debate time and energy attacking Michael Bloomberg; I’m not sure what her point is, and the newspapers are doing it much better. She is not competing for the same moderate voters as he is. Her competitor is Bernie Sanders, and she has yet to show on the debate stage that she is a far better choice and far more thoughtful and capable than he is.
Mike Bloomberg did a much better job presenting himself and his successes as Mayor of New York City than he did during his face plant in the first debate. His advertising is first rate and ubiquitous so he cannot yet be counted out. I think he would be a formidable candidate against Trump in the fall elections, but we’ll soon see if anyone actually votes for him in Democratic primaries. Bloomberg was the only candidate to address the need for a better, higher performing education system and he is the one who has delivered on improving public education, on more affordable housing, on improved economic performance and other important indicia that government is doing a good job for us as citizens and taxpayers.
Joe Biden needs to stop saying “I wrote the bill” or “Barack and I did that” or “I met with Xi many times” and start laying out what he wants to do as President. His failure to lay out his vision is why Bernie’s votes are growing and Joe’s votes have been shrinking. The debate is focused on the issues that Bernie is raising because Joe is not presenting his vision, but rather his resume. That reminds me of Secretary Clinton’s failed campaign.
Amy was the only one to lay out a new line of discussion in describing how President Trump has decimated the CDC and its ability to respond to pandemics and left us less prepared to combat the coronavirus when it gets here in force. It’s as if the others aren’t bothering to read the headlines or pay any attention to the tanking stock market or the devastation of China’s economy due to the fast spread of the coronavirus. There is now a high and increasing likelihood that the contagion spreads throughout the world and points all the interconnected global economies towards recession, that could be worsened if we go into default isolation mode. It’s not a reason for panic, but for careful planning and preparation, for reliance on science and medicine, not for medieval solutions and quackery. It so far appears to be highly transmissible and contagious and because it is a brand new virus, we have developed no natural immunity, no vaccines and no reliable treatments. Maybe the virus fizzles out as the spring and summer arrives, let’s hope so, but more than likely it takes a big bite out of economic growth and kills lots of people all over the world. The mortality rate for those who get it appears to be about 2% as compared to .01% for the flu, but for many others it’s just a mild flu.
Prepared by: Lucien Wulsin
Dated: 2/26/20