As an earnest Bernie Supporter I think Hillary Clinton profited more from the debate
So I guess in that sense you could say she "won" although I honestly don't feel it was a real debate in any strict sense of the term. Our Primary debates are not real debates for the most part and this one certainly wasn't. However this was a chance for the candidates to put themselves forward on a personal level and for the most part O'Malley, Clinton, and Sanders represented themselves well for what they had to work with.
I think what was particularly notable about this debate and in my mind the greatest let down from Bernie Sanders was his failing to directly and persistently challenge Hillary Clinton on the issues, her soft and shifting support for progressive values, and her general loose connection with being straightforward and trustworthy.
In my mind he definitely won in terms of being pretty charming and passionate but he really failed to even try to challenge Clinton and get ber on the wrong foot.
Whereas I think his emails move was a good stroke I think he just overall gave her a pass on a lot of bullshittery that she nonchalantly spewed forth.
I personally doubt he can beat Clinton in these primaries. Not saying I don't want him to. I just gave him money after all. But I just dont think he can no matter what he does at this point unless there is some major ethical or legal lapse that comes to light. As much as climate change and wealth inequality really are the two biggest issues of our time (poverty kills way more people than guns and bad cops) I do think emotionally a large part of the Democratic base is very in tune with what Hillary Clinton represents... a break from white males. Its no accident our current President is African American and Hillary has nearly been a shoe in for the Democratic nomination since 2004. She was the favorite back then if you don't remember.
However there is no way Bernie will beat her if he doesn't really challenge her and go after both her strengths and weaknesses the same way Obama did in 2008. As long as Hillary is allowed to say whatever she wants and is never wrong footed or held to the fire to reveal her cracks she will not be held for any of her rightward misdeeds, hawkishness and high probability she is gonna start shit with Iran, her constant reversals, or her string of bad decisions spanning many years.
At this point I don't think Bernie thinks he can win either and that's why I think he is maintaining the Bernie brand as a good guy who really wants to elevate the discourse and stick to his issues. And in many ways it is working. Hillary has bad to move to the left in her rhetoric and Bernie has not bad to move to the right to meet her. He has served as an educator and a consciousness raiser which is of immense value.
It is angering though because I sense a lot of arrogance and mischief coming from the Hillary camp both here on DU and out there in the real world. I get a string whiff of triumphalism and poor sportsmanlike behavior. The whole DWS and the debate schedule does not smell right. It looks, acts, sounds, and smells lime a rigged system with collusion at its heart. We can't prove anything but look who benefits and look who loses out.
The other thing that is particularly aggravating is how the Hillary Wing Democratic Party has become this "anti-white progressive male party"... invalidating Bernie's support because it lacks enough melanin or estrogen and comes from the wrong part of the country. The dog whistles and not-so-dog-whistle-frequencies in this regard are clear to me. There is at least one thing I want to say about progressive whites especially the much maligned progressive whites from Vermont and Iowa and that is we were the first to really embrace Barack Obama and helped lay the seed for the ascent of our first African American President. And it was at that time the dog whistles from Hillary and Bill Clinton were blowing the other way and outright racists things were being said on her campaigns behalf. I remember I was there and I was here. Do i think either Clinton is racist? Absolutely not. But I am forever jaded by their cynical ploys. So yes in this regard I am a Hillary Hater, but I feel she has earned my enmity. I just think there are lines you shouldn't cross and dividing us on race, class, gender, orientation, religion, and region is never acceptable.
So yeah I do think Hillary profited more from the debate as no one really challenged her and forced her into any errors. She has thus reaped great reviews from the pundits and seems to have stemmed the tide of some her declining support.
I ask the Bernie supporters here to be honest that we have an extremely uphill battle and I ask the Hillary supporters here to be more honest as well and recognize that his does in fact have many flaws and that the past 2 1/2 decades, dominated by the centrist DLC / corporate Democratic Party has not been kind to the average American. A lot of people are suffering and thought the Right bears most of the blame the Centrist Dems are also to blame and have not yet been held to account.
Sorry about the typos. I tapped this out on my phone.
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