Thursday, October 15, 2015

Hillary Won

I'm an unapologetic Bernie Sanders supporter. I figured I'd get that tidbit of information out of the way before going on, because it may give some precedence to the unfortunate blathering that is to follow.
Two nights ago, the democratic party had its first of six debates (far too few, if you ask me) for the five (or so, it's hard to count Jim Webb as anything other than an aging Terminator) candidates. It was, essentially, a debate between former secretary of state and Bratz doll model Hillary Clinton and Vermont senator and Troll doll hair model Bernie Sanders. The latter is ardently left, the former is ardently ambivalent until public polling dictates her position.
Bernie, as is his schtick, continuously expounded on his main talking points, i.e. inequality in America, prison overcrowding, Wall Street greed, climate change, social security, etc., and they are always his strengths. Unfortunately, as most Bernie Sanders followers should realize, Senator Sanders' points on foreign policy and gun control were weak.
(25:42 for gun control; 36:06 for foreign policy in Syria, 46:18 for Sanders being uncertain about Putin)



To be fair, Sanders has always been a domestic policy guy, but it was obvious that he took the Syria issue to indicate a possible yes/no for boots on the ground. Syria is an intricate problem with enough interests and alliances to make Machiavelli's head spin, and yes, boots on the ground would be a horrible idea, but so is allowing Russia to aid the Assad government.
Clinton was obviously able to pull out her experience as the secretary of state and display (to a minimal point) the intricacies of diplomacy, it was enough to demonstrate that Sanders needed to brush up on foreign policy.
Besides that, while his populist message has a very true ring to it, he wasn't able to touch upon the recent republican battle against Planned Parenthood as Clinton did.
But then again, Clinton demonstrated her perpetual equivocation on many issuing, ranging from the trans-pacific partnership to the Keystone pipeline to Wall Street to marijuana legalization, and has been one of her most contentious points thus far, especially when she said that the TPP was the gold standard for trade.
Of course, there are five more, so let's just wait and see.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thoughts, concerns, snide remarks? Leave them here.