The fourth Democrat debate happened tonight at a school I never heard of in 40 years of university life, called Otterbein U. I suppose the attractiveness of the site was its location in Ohio, a battleground state. What follows is a distillation of several reaction columns written at the debate’s conclusion.
Some say Biden did okay, others say he bobbled much of what he said. He claims he and son Harper did nothing wrong in Ukraine or China, a view shared by some Democrats and no Republicans. Warren got the most speaking time as she was pressed to defend her many proposals for major societal change. She refuses to admit taxes will go up to pay for it all. I think she has both likability and truthfulness deficits.
Republicans watching liked Gabbard, which means Democrats didn’t. Billionaire Steyer impressed no one, Beto had a bad night, and there were comments that mayor Pete had a great radio announcer’s voice, and might have a decent post-politics career on-air.
Harris also has a likability problem, nobody takes goof Booker seriously, and Klobuchar gets no traction. People are bored with Yang, and a heart attack hasn’t dampened Sanders’ yelling. Whoever was #12 was unmemorable so I looked him up - Julian Castro - it’s not his year, maybe not his century.
There will be more commentary to digest tomorrow. Perhaps I’ll share gleanings from it with you.
