Tonight I spent the evening watching the Democratic presidential debate at a Mexican restaurant on the Upper West Side sponsored by a couple of local Democratic clubs. The restaurant was small and became smaller when the proprietor berated us for having individual bills instead of one large bill. It was a rather unappetizing thing to do. The debate itself was no more satiating. Here are seven observations to this effect.
1. CNN kept things tight. The panel largely kept candidates from grandstanding, attacking each other and made sure they didn't obfuscate their answers. No complaints here. Well almost.
2. The notable exception to that was when Sanders was asked about Warren's assertion that he told her a woman couldn't be elected President. He called the allegation ridiculous, but Warren said, "I disagree." But then she said, "I'm not here to have a fight with Bernie." So why raise the issue? Because her fundraising numbers are in the toilet and she needs to create something out of whole cloth. So yes I believe Bernie told Warren a woman couldn't be elected President about as much as I believe she is a member of the Cherokee Nation.
With that said, Warren said she and Klobuchar were the only people on stage who had won every election they had contested which brought her big cheers. Warren might cut into Sanders' momentum, but it won't benefit either because they are competing for the same voting universe.
3. The same could be said for Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar. Buttigieg got stronger as the debate went on especially when he said he would confront President Trump about evading service in Vietnam due to fake bone spurs and trying to use religion as a political instrument. "God is not a member of any political party."
However, I cannot help but think Buttigieg has hit his ceiling leaving Klobuchar an opportunity to ascend with another strong debate performance. Neither Buttigieg nor anyone else challenged Klobuchar's record or temperament. The thinking could be that she won't get past 6% in the polls in Iowa and basically be done. But if Klobuchar can finish third or better in Iowa then she lives to fight in New Hampshire and perhaps beyond. In which case, Klobuchar would come under more scrutiny, but this might prove too late for Buttigieg.
4. Joe Biden gets better with every debate. This was also the first time I attended a debate watch party where he wasn't lustily booed. Biden got laughs when he said he was the object of Trump's love and affection. He did nothing to harm himself tonight.
5. Tom Steyer mostly name checked the other candidates and made one lament the absence of Andrew Yang.
6. The first half hour of debate was dominated by Iran. There was plenty of praise for the Iran nuclear deal, but no acknowledgment of Iranians turning their anger towards the Iranian regime, not Trump. The candidates, particularly Sanders, compared what's happening in Iran to the War in Iraq and spoke of the need to build our standing in the world by building coalitions. But there was a coalition built to remove Saddam Hussein. Sanders wanted no part of it while Biden, like John Kerry, was for the war before he was against it.
7. All of which helps President Trump. With the exception of Buttigieg, I don't see anyone nimble enough to bloody Trump in a debate with surgical precision. But it doesn't seem Democrats are smart enough to nominate him and are more interested in having a socialist or the first woman President than someone who can knock out Trumpism.
But we'll see what Iowa Democrats decide in 20 days.
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