Nick Siano is a sophomore telecommunications and journalism major and writes "Nick and Tired" for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Nick at ncsiano@bsu.edu.
Wow, talk about a real debate. It’s almost like having fewer candidates on stage makes for more purposeful and determined rhetoric. Thursday night’s democratic debate was the first head-to-head between Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; with no pesky Martin O’Malley to hog the airtime with his platform. With all due respect to him, two-person debates are so much more engaging. Sure, last night was no Lincoln-Douglas debate, but it allowed both candidates to take swings at each other, especially after both campaigns began airing negative ads about the other.
This was the last debate before the New Hampshire primary, where Sanders has held a solid lead over Clinton, according to polls from CNN, the Wall Street Journal and the University of Massachusetts. Nonetheless, Clinton showed prowess in her debate skills, and could give Sanders a run for his money come time for the Nevada caucus.
Off the bat, the two exchanged jabs in the form of opening statements. Clinton painted Sanders as an idealist, saying she’s not making promises she cannot keep. But for Clinton to address Sanders in her opening statement means something big for the Sanders political machine: he is gaining more mainstream traction than Clinton bargained for.
It’s likely he wasn’t expecting it, either. As recently as December of 2015, Sanders was still clamoring for mainstream media to give him more coverage. However, this debate quickly showed how that could work against him.
Sanders, a current member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, clumsily attempted to dodge questions related to the failing VA health care system, falling back on the tried-and-true answer of letting Clinton talk as he furiously nods along with what she says. The two did go on to agree that, while the VA needs restructuring, it should not be privatized.
Sanders argued well for the first hour of the debate — it was largely domestic issues that were brought up, which his platform has gained a large following from. But once the debate turned to foreign affairs, there was clearly a slowdown in his pace.
But Clinton had her share of missteps as well. A voter asked about speeches she has given to Goldman Sachs and the ludicrous amounts of money she got in return. The voter asked for Clinton to release the transcripts, to which she replied: “I will look into it.” That’s political-speak for “No chance.” There’s no great answer, politically speaking, for anyone regarding the question of accepting exorbitant amounts of money for speeches from investment banks, but offering such a blatant false promise seems to go against her opening statement.
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Throughout this race, both Sanders and Clinton have been labelling themselves as progressive and the other as establishment. Each hopes to be seen as a candidate who will usher in an era of change and social reform, while depicting the other as another cogwheel in the Washington machine. This argument will continue as long as these two are in the running, but I do hope that Clinton finds a different defense.
Once she was called an establishment candidate, her only justification was that she was a woman running for president, and therefore could not exemplify the establishment. Hopefully, Clinton will veer away from that answer, which seems to be what she says when the cameras are on and she wants some applause. Hopefully, she will come to realize that voters might look beyond the fact that she’s a woman because running the country is much more important than the gender of the person doing it.
Thursday’s debate proved that less is more when it comes to candidates. It showed the remarkable rhetoric a narrow field can provide, in contrast to fitting as many lecterns on a stage as possible. Most importantly, it showed that both candidates are starting to look beyond New Hampshire, as they should, considering how hectic March is going to be. The two have upwards of five more debates to participate in, and if this one was any indicator, they will be just as meaningful and policy-oriented.
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