Heated arguments, political debates and pointed questions. No, it’s not your classic thanksgiving dinner.
It is November Democratic debate. Well, quite a show considering candidates like former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and California Senator Kamala Harris graced the stage again for this November.
Fifth National Democratic Debate consisted of only 10 participants with exception of 2 candidates from last month of October.
Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke dropped out of the race on Nov. 1, and former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro missed the debate polling requirements for the first time.
In the fifth Democratic debate last night, higher four leaders of the poll needed to shore up their strengths and address the weaknesses of their electoral coalitions.
The remaining six needed to manufacture memorable moments that would help them make inroads against the leaders.
Let’s Take a Look at Some Candidates
Joe Biden
While Biden was quite the favorite from the polls before debate who had advantage of 26.0%, he was far from winning this round of November presidential debate.
He was tumbling over some rather simple facts and choosing poor wording on an answer about gender violence.
His facts about former senator Carol Moseley Braun being the “only” African American woman elected to the Senate cost him.
After that, Biden was refuted by Kamala Harris claiming that she also fit that description.
Actually, Biden is a creature of the cultural center, someone who resonates with African Americans and retirees who have earned their right to social security and Medicare after a lifetime of work.
Elizabeth Warren
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren was actually the second favorite candidate pre-debate at 20.8%.
Warren pulled herself from the passenger seat and took the lead in getting her points across.
While it is true that she got the most speaking time, she was most attacked candidate in the room for her issue of Medicare For All.
She was responding to every attack as if she had downed one Red Bull too many.
At one instance, Former Vice-president Biden took shot at both Warren and Sanders by claiming that the healthcare plan cost for Medicare for All is twice the entire federal budget.
In response, Warren countered that under Medicare for All “costs are going to go up for wealthier individuals and giant corporations not for hardworking families”.
This sums up the whole debate for Warren in the context of claiming and refuting the arguments presented upon Medicare for All.
Amy Klobuchar
Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota got 2.3% of all votes while getting 9mins, 6s of speaking time.
Duration of her speech was pretty average, but her arguments received praises from the audiences and twitter plaudits.
She delivered one of the best answers of the night by describing the double standard that exists for women in politics.
The first hour was Klobuchar’s best thus far, relying more on responses that showcased her witty, affable side that tends to resonate with voters more than detailed technocratic responses.
Her comeback was phenomenal and went on to say that “If you think a woman can’t beat Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi does it every single day.”
Furthermore, she highlighted the issue of lack of women president in the history of American presidency.
Pete Buttigieg
Former Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg was fourth most favorable candidate for presidency according to the poll on Nov. 16.
Amy Klobuchar and Tulsi Gabbard raised doubts that the Indiana mayor had enough experience to become president
. Buttigieg deftly responded by attacking Gabbard’s judgement in sitting down with Bashar al-Assad, calling the Syrian leader a “murderous dictator.” Most of the candidates avoided attacking Buttigieg until the very end of the debate where he came back with epic reply.
Buttigieg even aroused the issues of trade war with china.
He fired at Trump Buttigieg saying Trump “has no strategy,” and that he hasn’t followed through on his commitment to make a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The inability of America to follow through this plan will likely be noticed by whole world.
Bernie Sanders
Former senator of Vermont, Sanders is one of the few candidates who left strong impression during the debate.
Sanders claimed that 500,000 people go bankrupt every year from medical debt.
That’s approximately two-thirds of the 750,000 total bankruptcies per year.
Furthermore, he seized every opportunity to outline foreign-policy alternatives in the fifth round of Democratic debating.
He called out the Trumps approach to Saudi Arabia by declaring that “Saudi Arabia is not a reliable ally.”
Moreover, he insisted on maintaining peace between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
He added, “we are sick and tired of us spending huge amounts of money and human resources because of your conflicts.”
He took this issue to reflect at the current situation of Israel and Palestine.
He said, “It is no longer good enough for us to be pro-Israel, I am pro-Israel, but we must treat the Palestinians with the dignity they deserve.” That line alone drew sustained applause from the crowd.
Who came with best one-liners?
Other than that, the best moments of the debate came from Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, who had unforgettable one-liners.
Booker questioning whether Biden was high when he referred to marijuana as a gateway drug, and Harris saying Trump had been “punked” by Kim Jong-un. You can feel that roast all too well.
Similarly, the debate’s four women moderators won praise for their questions, which focused on previously undiscussed issues like paid family leave and housing affordability.
Tonight’s event was also historic; for the first time ever, most debate participants (counting moderators and candidates) were women.
Who came out as true winner?
There was no definite winner to the debate as interesting as it sounds.
Major issues of impeachment of Trump, Gender issues, Medicare bill, women equality and racial inequality were the major issues addressed in the debate.
In overall, Klobuchar and Warren had the best nights in comparison to other candidates.
The debate topics were a mile wide and inch deep, preventing candidates from being able to distinguish the details of their policy agenda from the others.
Post-debate poll results await. I suspect that the debate infused new life into the campaigns of Booker and Harris and did little harm to the rest other than Gabbard.
Still billionaire Tom Steyer and the whimsical Andrew Yang barely registered in this phenomenal arrangement.
Even though, Biden managed to stay relevant, but his shaky performance is still yet to showcase any comeback.
Let’s see where this debate leads up. What will it reveal for Trump and his impeachment?
