For the first time in some while, I actually watched a decent portion of last night's Democratic debate in Vegas. The highlight was seeing most of the field struggle and squirm to answer the question of whether illegal immigrants should get drivers licences. It was a little surprising that it caused such consternation for the candidates given all the attention it received in the last go round. If there was one questions they should have been prepared to answer, it was that one.
Obama's response was almost as muddled as Hillary's the week before. Kucinich appeared insulted that the question was even posed. Despite the fact that Wolf Blitzer asked for a simple yes/no response, the only one who really followed through was Joe Biden with a straight-forward "No."
Speaking of Biden, he came across as the most personable and in many ways reasonable candidate (although his O'Reillyesque usage of "the folks" did get a bit annoying). He appears to have a real sense of humor as evidenced by his off the cuff remarks and casual banter. The other candidates had their canned joke lines, but Biden was the only one who seemed comfortable and having fun. The kind of guy you wouldn't mind sitting down and having a beer with.
Long before his global warming crusade began, I believed that there was far more to fear from President Gore than President Clinton. Now, I feel the same way about a President Edwards verus President Clinton II. He was by far the most demagogic last night. His populist claim that the country is run by "corporate interests" and the solutions he proposed to remedy the situation should send a chill up the spine of anyone who believes in free markets. The same holds true for his views on trade, which unfortunately seem to be shared to at least some extent by all the Democrats on the stage.
No comments:
Post a Comment