Tonight’s CNN Democrat debate feature Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, both of whom have few degrees of separation between their political views. Both Sanders and Warren want free college tuition, student loan debt forgiveness, national health care and comprehensive immigration reform, a euphemism for open borders. Eight other Democrat candidates including, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobucher (D-Minn.), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Tx.), best-selling author and spirtual guru Marianne Williamson, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), round out the debate with no discernable differences among the candidates. Only Bernie and Warren promise to make headlines tonight, whose message are already well known.
Going through the debates, there’s very little the public can learn from the candidates that they don’t already know. When you consider the similarities among the candidates, the differences come out in personality, largely auditioning for either the VP pick or possibly some Cabinet position if it gets that far. Yet when you listen to Bernie or Warren, they’ve run their campaign on ripping Trump, calling him a raft of names ranging from racist to common criminal. There so little difference between Sanders and Warren, there’s almost no reason for CNN to host debates, other that showcasing candidates with the job of slamming Trump. Democrats have become so cookie-cutter, there’s almost no differences to debate, especially with a crowd of 10 candidates on stage. With Sanders and Warren running about 15%, there only hope is taking votes away from each other.
Tomorrow night’s debate promises to continue the fireworks between front-runner former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), whose first debate June 26 on NBC had Harris embarrassing Binden. If Biden doesn’t rebound on tomorrow’s debate, it could spell problems for his candidacy. Harris made Biden look bad for his past work with known segregationists in the U.S. Senate, as well as supporting the crime bill that locked up too many black citizens. Harris let Binden have it when it came to his past votes against school integration, something Harris admitted helped her education. Biden, a few months from turning 77, showed his age in the NBC debate, unable to articulate real facts related to any topic. Harris, on the other hand, looked sharp with the facts whether on domestic or foreign policy. If Biden looks old again, he could lose more ground to Harris.
When it comes to health care, Bernie and Warren will give the CNN audience an earful of their Medicare-for-All plans, Bernie’s unfeasible plan that would bankrupt the national treasury, probably imploding the health care system for seniors and the disabled. Whether admitted to or not by Bernie or Warren, there are simply not enough doctors, hospitals and clinics in the Medicare system to accommodate potentially 200 million more subscribers. Biden’s probably right on health care to keep Obamacare intact, despite objections by Trump and the GOP. So far, the GOP has zero health care plan to accommodate the millions of U.S. citizens without health insurance. Medicare-for-All is so unrealistic, so extravagant, no matter how much Bernie or Warren raise taxes, to accommodate the millions of citizens needing coverage. When it comes to immigration, both are equally unrealistic.
Sanders and Warren slam Trump’s borders polices, whether building out more border fence or detaining immigrants seeking asylum. Nether has a realistic plan for doing anything differently, other that changing border laws to open up the border for unrestricted immigration. Sanders and Warren complain that Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] detention centers are akin to concentration camps, exaggerating living condition for those trapped at the border. When it comes to foreign policy, Sanders and Warren blame Trump for all the problems in the Persian Gulf with Iran because Trump withdrew the U.S. from Obama’s Iranian Nuke Deal. Neither Warren nor Sanders have any answers for dealing with Iran’s malign behavior, including supplying arms-and-cash to Hamas in Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon terrorists. Both criticize Israel more than Palestinians and other Mideast groups.
Tonight’s NBC debate promises to offer no differences among the major Democrat candidates. Listening to Sanders and Warren try to jockey for more votes, there’s nothing new voters can expect. Tomorrow’s night’s rematch between Biden and Harris promises more interesting because Biden’s the undisputed front-runner, looking to hold on to his 10% lead. If Biden stumbles tomorrow night, the race could tighten, with Biden losing ground to other candidates. Trump can only sit-and-wait to find out who’s going to eventually emerge as the Democrat Party’s nominee, something that looks like Biden today but could easily change. If you look at the top tier candidates, only Sanders, Warren, Biden and Harris have any shot of making it to the convention. There’s no dark horse in the pack, only a lot of tweedle-dee, tweedle-dum candidates, looking more alike than ever. If Biden doesn’t distinguish himself from the pack, he’s likely to fall to a younger, more vibrant candidate.
