12 February 2016
The New Hillary started the debate, but the Old Hillary finished it
Against my better judgment, I watched Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton debate in Milwaukee last night (transcript), but stopped after 90 minutes because the softer, more refined Hillary at the start of the debate had reverted to the self-important scold that’s her real self.
A few takeaways:
Health Care. Clinton refuses to stop misrepresenting Sanders’ support of single-payer health care. She seems to believe she’s the world’s leading expert on health care. In her view, Sanders’ greatest sin is not deferring to her expertise and judgment on the subject.
Foreign policy. Sanders needs to study-up on the details, but Clinton’s mastery of the details is not the same as exercising good judgment. “We have to continue to work with the Iraqi army so that they are better prepared to advance on some of the other strongholds inside Iraq…” sounds good — but only a fool believes that the Iraqi army will ever be a competent fighting force.
Spy on your neighbors and turn them in. Speaking about domestic security, Clinton said:
You know, after 9/11, one of the efforts that we did in New York was if you see something or hear something suspicious, report it. And we need to do that throughout the country.
What is suspicious? An olive-skinned tourist taking a snapshot of a post office or Hoover Dam? A letter-to-the-editor arguing that building a mosque on Elm Street will make Egalitarianville a better community? Clinton’s approach reprises the anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s that the Mitchell Trio satirized when they sang “You cannot trust your neighbor, or even next of kin, if mommy is a commie then you gotta turn her in.”
Expert debate moderation and questioning. Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill joined Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow as the best, and best by far, of the bunch. They were trying to get to the truth instead of starting a bar fight to boost ratings.
Horrible stage lighting. The background for the candidates was the worst I’ve ever seen, a light pharmaceutical cyan with busy lettering, while the candidates were not strongly enough illuminated. This worked to the advantage of Clinton with her blond hair and yellow tunic that was a cross between Mandarin court fashion and a Star Trek uniform, but I doubt it was planned that way. There was better lighting for Woodruff and Ifill.
At this point, we’d be served better by a debate format featuring the candidates sitting at a table discussing the issues with a moderator of the Bill Moyers genre.