It’s a center-left party after all (Dem Debate #2.1)

Source: Politico | July 31, 2019 | John F. Harris

Sanders and Warren kept their voices but a parade of centrists finally found theirs.

The assignment of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to the same debate stage in Detroit Tuesday night was random chance, but turned out to be a well-timed and clarifying event.

There was the possibility that the two heroes of the left would sharpen the differences between them in the competition over who is the fairest of them all. But very little of that came to pass.

Instead, the combined Warren-Sanders presence emboldened most other voices in the first round of a two-night debate to say they wouldn’t enter the derby over who is most ideologically pure. The real argument, they urged, should be over who is most credible general election adversary to Donald Trump and potential president in 2021.

It wasn’t exactly an invigorating evening. It was too long (closing in on 2 hours, 45 minutes) and too disorienting (candidates clamoring to be heard; moderators laboring with impatient “thank yous” to shut down answers that went over time) for that.

But in its discursive way it was illuminating: The debate showed a party arguing seriously about the inherent tension between boldness and realism, passion and prudence, on such topics as improving health care, immigration, taking on wealthy interests, and the best way broadly to energize average voters.

It was the relative absence of such arguments that made the first round of debates, last month in Miami, so striking. In those encounters, some challenges, like finite financial resources, or the political reality that large swaths of middle America that Democrats need to win Congress or the presidency have been hostile toward robust liberalism, seemed to be waved away by proclamation. Candidates who disagreed often muffled their views, and previous records, leaving the impression of an unconsidered swerve to the left on such issues as abandoning Obamacare and abolishing private health insurance, or decriminalizing illegal border crossings and giving government health care to undocumented immigrants.

In Detroit the dissenters found their voices, and even those who had previously staked out bold positions seemed to be injecting a bit of squish in their language.

At least a half-dozen of the first eight opening statements—Warren and Sanders were nine and ten—included explicit or implied rebukes of the leftward tilt of the party.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said the first round of debates featured “wish-list economics” that suggests a party talking to itself rather than listening to voters. Former Rep. John Delaney said “bad policies like Medicare for all, free everything, and impossible promises…will turn off independent voters and get Trump re-elected.” Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said “not one of those 40 Democrats” who flipped formerly Republican House seats in 2018 support the more extreme positions of Sanders and Warren. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she has “bold ideas but they are grounded in reality.”

Throughout the evening, Warren and Sanders did not shrink from the challenge. Instead, they seemed to work in tandem to advocate for a less cautious, defensive-minded brand of progressive activism.

……….

Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.