Bernie Sanders was passionate and answered questions, Martin O'Malley seemed like a reasonable guy but did not have much to say, Hillary Clinton was vague and kept invoking her husband, for reasons unclear.
Sanders made three important points: he supports single-payer healthcare, he supports free college tuition for state colleges, and he would tax the rich, the way that "old socialist" Eisenhower did, when the tax rate was as high as 90%. He would also break up the big banks, just as Teddy Roosevelt would --emphasizing community banks and credit unions -- and reform the "corrupt campaign finance system."
Clinton was unable to successfully get out from under her big Wall Street contributors, other than to make the dubious claim that she had once been a Senator from New York who saved the banks on 9/11! Clinton also said that wages have not risen since her husband's administration, suggesting that Mr. and Mrs. Clinton had somehow raised wages. She wants to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour, Sanders supports $15. Again, no one in the debate said anything about unions, their role in raising wages, and how unions could be strengthened. Clinton does not want single-payer healthcare, wanting to continue Obamacare and allow the insurance companies to continue to make huge profits.
Sanders correctly said that the war in Iraq was one of the causes of the current crisis in the Middle East and Clinton apologized for supporting it, though she gave no reason why she did so, suggesting that the Middle East was too complicated for her to figure out.
Sanders and Clinton both supported bringing back Glass-Steagall, though neither bothered to explain what it was. It separated commercial banking from investment banking and the repeal was signed by President Clinton.
My personal take on the debate was that Sanders was passionate about getting things done and that Clinton is more of a politician, bending with the wind. Her big triumph, she said , was that 60% of her campaign contributions come from women, which is both unsurprising and irrelevant.
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