NOVEMBER 16, 2015
I’ll bet you didn’t even know that there was a second Democratic debate on Saturday night.
With the tragedy of the terrorist attacks in Paris totally overwhelming the news, it would be understandable if you didn’t. The shadow of those horrific events never totally left the debate stage, with each of the candidates asked to offer their thoughts at the start of the evening. After that, though, things eventually returned to business as usual.
How’d they do?
HILLARY CLINTON
Not nearly as good a night as the first debate was for her. Once she began to be hammered by Sanders and O’Malley about her ties to big banks and Wall Street, she went into that defensive position we saw in many of her 2008 debate performances where she raises her voice and begins to speak in techno-jargon.
Best Moment: No one single moment, but it was her performance throughout the debate whenever she would deal with President Obama’s foreign policy, distancing herself enough so that she could be called her own person, but never so far as it make it seem like she was repudiating him. It was a fine line to walk, and she walked it deftly.
Worst Moment: This one was a lulu. When Sanders began hitting her hard on her Wall Street ties, Clinton invoked 9/11, noting that she was the US Senator from New York at the time of the attacks which took place near Wall Street, and she helped out the banks as a way to rebuke the terrorists. Twitter was brutal in its mockery, and Clinton is going to have to find some way to clean that up.
Overall Analysis: You could say that Clinton won by not losing. But the Hillary of 2008 began to reveal itself as the evening went on, and if we see much more of that defensive Clinton, she may begin to undo much of the good she did for herself in October.
BERNIE SANDERS
Bernie had a bit of a rough night on Saturday. Prior to Paris, it appeared that the debate topics would likely focus on economic issues, which is right in the Sanders wheelhouse, but when the subject turned to fighting terrorism, Sanders checked out, only reinforcing the growing concern that his expertise may be primarily limited to income inequality.
Best Moment: When Sanders began to hammer Clinton hard on her ties to Wall Street and the big banks, he saw her fall into that defensive mode, so he wisely kept the attacks coming. It was among her worst moments of the night, and Sanders’ best.
Worst Moment: His opening statement. Each candidate was given a chance to begin with the events and people of Paris. Clinton and O’Malley each used their entire time to speak sensitively about the tragedy, but Sanders gave it a scant two sentences before running back to income inequality. It would be an awkward transition on any day, but given the mood of the country that night, it came across as Sanders having a tin ear to what Americans needed to hear.
Overall Analysis: Once again, Sanders spoke effectively to his base throughout the two hours. But once again, he said little that would allow him to expand that base — voters, particularly in the African-American community, that he needs to reach if he has any prayer of surviving past New Hampshire.
MARTIN O’MALLEY
A good case could be made that O’Malley had the best debate performance of the evening, as he made the fewest unforced errors. It helped the former Maryland Governor that two of his opponents, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee, have dropped out of the race since the first debate, giving O’Malley higher visibility and more time to speak.
Best Moment: In response to Clinton and Sanders’ use of the term “boots on the ground” when referring to U.S. troops sent into war zones, O’Malley countered with “I was in Burlington, Iowa, and a mom of a service member of ours who has served two duties in Iraq said, ‘Governor O’Malley, please, when you’re with your other candidates and colleagues onstage, please don’t use the term ‘boots on the ground’ … My son is not a pair of boots on the ground.’.” Boom. That brought a much-needed touch of humanity to an evening that had a dearth of it otherwise.
Worst Moment: O’Malley made no gaffes, but aside from “boots on the ground,” he had no memorable moments that he could call his own either. He was strong in going after Clinton on her Wall Street ties, but that’s Sanders’ issue, and at best, O’Malley could only be seen as piggy-backing on Sanders’ arguments. A costly missed opportunity.
Overall Analysis: With Thanksgiving and the holidays drawing near, the clock is ticking on O’Malley to find some way to get voters to give him a look. Saturday’s debate was one of the last big opportunities to make a breakthrough, and he didn’t.
All of the campaigns had a valuable lesson that they need to take away from this debate. For O’Malley, it’s the ticking clock. Sanders has a bit of a ticking clock as well, as time is running out for him to expand his base to the point where he can remain competitive in primaries after New Hampshire, and that means giving greater focus to black and Latino voters. For her part, Clinton was sliding back into Defensive Hillary mode, and that’s never a good persona for her. She let a 2008 victory slip away from her that way, so she needs to get back to October Hillary. And fast.
One final question. For a party that’s trying to compete for voters with the car crash-filled GOP debates, what genius decided to schedule this all-important debate on a Saturday night in November? Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz…you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do.
Next stop on the Democratic debate is set for December 19 (another Saturday???????) from Manchester, NH. So if you can’t find a date that night, see you there!
