On Tuesday, October 13th, from 8:30 p.m to 11:00 p.m EST, CNN and Facebook jointly hosted the 1st Democratic Debate of the 2016 Presidential Campaign. Although the field was half that of the previous two Republican debates, this two and a half hour debate proved worthwhile as the 5 hopeful candidates duked it out over topics spanning climate change and gun control to #blacklivesmatter movement and a multitude of other topics. Here is a list of 9 top things I ascertained from the debate.
9. Why Facebook is Winning at both Debates
This may be an odd way to start a listical about top things regarding a Democratic debate, but if you think about it, someone needs to say it. After this last debate, Facebook has now been involved in two major debates that have garnered in total over 40 million views from people across the world. When considering that less than 10 years ago, Facebook was still an unknown operating site and the words social media were never used together. Come to think of it, Facebook has had more scandals than Lincoln Chafee's 30 year scandal free career, which one may also call less interesting than Facebook's rise to power as well. If you need me, I'll be here waiting for Facebook to run for President next.
8. Why I want to hear more from Martin O' Malley and Climate Change
While I sit back and wait for Facebook to declare its bid to the presidential race, there is one topic I can not and will not wait any longer to hear from. It seems like there is only one Democratic candidate truly concerned with it, and that is the position we have put ourselves in on this planet. It is universal, and it is happening whether we like it our not. Climate Change will be the world's number one problem if not already and will bring the greatest nations to there knees if we let it continue to grow and fester as we bicker and argue with little change. Former Baltimore Mayor and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley seems to be the only candidate who promotes climate change as one of his major points for running. He has proposed a plan that is centered around making the United States by 2050, 100% powered by clean energy. O'Malley, unlike other candidates, does not go on a witch hunt like some of his democratic candidates after China, Russia, and India, blaming them for the worlds climate problems. Although China is the number one polluter in the world, the United States is a close second with 5,903 tons of greenhouse gases released each year compared to China's 6018 tons per year. You do do Martin.
7. Jim Webb spent more time complaining about not getting enough time
The democratic field of candidates is nothing like that of the numerous Republican candidates in the race. With a mere 5 major candidates right now, the democratic field, one would think, would receive equal time spread throughout the course of the debate. Well, lets not forget that this is America, where we hear what we want to hear, and based off of Tuesday's debate I can tell you that the American public does not want to hear what former Virginia Senator Jim Webb is preaching. Now what I'm not saying that is that Jim Webb is a bad politician, his political record accounts for that, what I am saying is the American public would rather here about the two front Runners in the race i.e. Sanders and Clinton. In this case, Webb received the short end of the stick, However, post debate, it was revealed that Webb actually did not received the least amount of time. That honor belongs to Lincoln Chafee who received exactly 9 minutes and 11 seconds of airtime Chafee did 9:11?!?!?!? Scandalous to say the least.
6. Bernie and his (uneventful) experience with Weed
One would be remiss if a presidential debate did not commit a certain amount of time to the discussion of legalization and weed. Yet again, the main focus was not on the topic of legalization but rather which of the candidates had smoked a little bit of green now and then. The focus then fell to Bernie Sanders. Bernie, known to many as the peoples candidate was asked by Anderson Cooper if he would legalize Weed if it came to a vote and his reply was yes. He established his position as follows,
"I suspect I would vote yes. And I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana," Sanders proclaimed.
It was discussed prior that Bernie had smoked marijuana twice before and had "yet to feel its full effect". Hillary of course jumped in immediately and said she still supports the use of Medical Marijuana but at the time of the debate her comment remained "No Comment". Keep on blazing a path to legalization Bernie.
5. Jim Webb Will Literally Kill You if You Make Him an Enemy
As the debate closed, Anderson Cooper asked the candidates each a final question,
"Which enemy are you most proud of?"
As the candidates went down the aisle naming the kind of enemies one would expect a democratic candidate to have such as the NRA, Pharmaceutical Companies, Wall Street, and even Coal Companies, thanks again Chafee, Webb very calmly and somewhat eerily replied,
"I'd have to say, the enemy soldier that threw the grenade that wounded me, but he’s not around right now to talk to.”
That's right, Webb admitted that any enemy of his is a dead enemy. Webb makes Drake sound like a pansy.
4. If you're Hillary Clinton, one worded answers work
After a bizarre turn of events during the debate which will be expanded upon further in the article, Chafee, prompted by the moderator, was encouraged to challenge Clinton's trust and credibility regarding her email scandals. Chafee did just that attacking Clinton and in doing so made a fool of himself in the following dialogue.
"Credibility is an issue," Chafee said.
Moderator Anderson Cooper asked,
"Secretary Clinton do you want to respond?"
"No," Clinton said.
If you were wondering what she really was responding to, the question was, "Is Lincoln Chafee going to be the next president of the United States?"
Can anyone stop Hillary Clinton?
3. Is Hillary Clinton the next Barack Obama?
The question above was asked to all candidates but in a slightly different way with the same base meaning,
"What will make you not be a 3rd term President Obama?"
A majority of the candidates constructed some paragraph response that lacked anything worth remembering in my opinion yet one stood out. It was Hillary's response. When asked the simple question her response, attempting to be amusing, gained anything but some half-hearted laughs.
"I think that's pretty obvious."
She went on to say how being the first woman president isn't the only difference between her and a 3rd term Obama, but by then it was two late. I expected better from you Hillary. It's time to feel the Bern America.
2. How Bernie Sanders Single-handedly ended the talk on Hillary's emails
Prior to the debate, a good deal of media was spent covering the lingering disease that surrounds Hillary Clinton's campaign. The scandal regarding her email usage has damaged her campaign to some end and in some eyes has made Hillary very vulnerable. Now any "determined-to-win" and "true politician" would take advantage of this situation surrounding the democratic front-runner in a series of calculated attacks, just like our dear old friend Lincoln Chafee, but others like Bernie Sanders had other ideas. Instead of belittling Hillary and her campaign he shocked the debate field and the viewers at home with the following statement,
"Let me say something that may not be great politics, but I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!" Sanders said.
Receiving a standing ovation and the loudest response from the crowd all night, he continued with,
"Enough of the emails, let's talk about the real issues facing America."
If you're wondering what you're feeling right now that's the Bern. #FEELTHEBERN
1. After all of this, Who Won?
Many people come up with there winner's and losers based off of many things. These include how well they responded to questions/attacks, the topics they touched on and how well it resonated with the viewers both and live and later. The sad fact that I have come to realize is, none of them are winners, and here's why. Personally, I watched and re-watched the debate, both times trying to elicit some type of fire, some flurry of rhetoric that got me excited to the point of wanting to no more. Unfortunately, and in my opinion, none of the candidates did just that. Each touched on certain events that resonated somewhat with me, ok maybe not Chafee, but regardless I was not wowed. If asked in public who I thought won however, I would reply Bernie Sanders, simply because he seemed to handle himself the best throughout the debate. Hillary failed, in my opinion, to create the spark I was hoping for and O'Malley, although touching on the Climate, failed to make a big impact in my viewing experience. Jim Webb, on the other hand is perfect and no enemy of mine, hehe.
Regardless of how this debate turned out, all candidates, assuming they haven't dropped out yet, will get a a chance to redeem themselves on November 14, 2015, at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
