Obama big winner at debate
“There is such a difference between everything you’re hearing here on this stage and what we hear from the Republicans.”
Hillary Clinton, at last week’s Democratic Presidential debate
While Hillary Clinton wiped the floor with her fellow Democratic presidential candidates at last Tuesday’s debate, the real winner was a guy who won’t even be on the ballot next November – President Obama.
Obama kicked off the festivities with a minute-long taped message.
He reminded debate-watchers that he’d fought hard to win the 2008 nomination, and he’ll support the eventual 2016 nominee.
In 2008, Republicans looked at the presidency of George W. Bush with such antipathy, that his video-taped message only appeared at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.
By 2012, Republicans had so skillfully airbrushed the Bush presidency out of their focus, that Bush was a no-show at their Tampa convention.
Obama, though, still has ample juice among Democrats, and their presidential aspirants.
Clinton, Obama’s Secretary of State, could have shown marked differences between her political philosophy and the man she faced during fiery debates 25 times, but she didn’t take the bait.
Instead, she boasted that, “After the election he asked me to be Secretary of State. He valued my judgement. I spent a lot of time with him in the situation room going over some very difficult issues.”
The other debaters, to varying degrees, agreed with Obama’s handling of serious matters.
And I do mean serious matters.
While Republicans spent much of the time during their two debates attacking each other, when they weren’t discussing all-things Donald Trump, Democrats focused on real issues.
Immigration reform, gun control, foreign policy, climate change, race relations, campaign finance reform, income inequality, gay rights, college affordability and paid family leave were the debate topics.
Nobody even tried to launch a personal attack on a fellow Democrat.
Many potential Republican voters may have even been envious.
They aren’t used to seeing people defending their ill-advised “counterattacks” on each other.
While Clinton, Sanders, former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley displayed sharp differences on a number of issues, nobody on stage resorted to style over substance.
In fact, not only didn’t Bernie Sanders find an easy opening in the Hillary Clinton email controversy, he actually backed her when he said, “I think the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.”
That lead to a toothy smile and a friendly handshake between Sanders and Clinton.
Contrast that to what happened during last month’s Republican debate.
There was such open, personal animosity between Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina, that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie finally interjected with, “Let’s stop this childish back and forth between the two of you.”
That’s not to say there weren’t any policy differences between the Democrats last Tuesday.
They were adult differences, not “childish” ones.
Get a dozen or so Republicans on a presidential debate stage, and you’ll hear that ISIS is about to kill us in our sleep; illegal immigrants are stealing the food from our tables; and that Barack Obama has turned the whole danged country into New Russia.
Not so with Democrats.
The five that appeared last Tuesday are largely in agreement with the direction the country is heading.
They’d just like to take it even further.
Republicans, have a tiresome disdain for Obamacare, Planned Parenthood, the Iran Nuclear deal, gay rights, increased gun control and commonsense immigration reforms, curbing the influences of Wall Street on America’s middle class.
Each of the Democratic presidential candidates fully support most of those things.
While Clinton and Sanders have solidified their support, with their debate preparation and presentations, they’ve also shown they’d both be formidable opponents for any of the Republican’s potential candidates.
That leaves just one question.
Aside from President Obama, who really won the debate?
Well, when you factor in the cornball silliness we’ve seen during the previous two Republican debates, the answer to that question is quite obvious.
I’d say the American public did.
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20 year veteran of television news. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net