Demoratic Debate Feb. 11, 2016

I think Sanders was right, that Clinton dealt him some low blows.  One was by saying that Sanders should not criticize Obama; why not, is there anyone who doesn't believe that Obama has been something of "a disappointment?"  The other was by saying that the numbers for single-payer healthcare "don't add up," though she did not say why in any detail, presumably, at least in part, because of the large donations she gets from health insurance companies, who make their profits by charging high deductibles and co-payments and by denying service.  Clinton seems more concerned about a "contentious debate" than she does about health insurance for the twenty-nine million Americans who still lack it.   Both candidates were somewhat short on specifics, talking broadly about education, housing and jobs.  Sanders at least had the intelligent suggestions of rebuilding the infrastructure for employment and tuition-free state colleges for education, in these days when a college education today is the equivalent of a high school education fifty years ago (we'll discuss that interesting subject another time).

On foreign policy Clinton criticized Sanders for not having advisers, while she makes use of the same old guys -- including Henry Kissinger! -- who have caused so much trouble and made so many bad decisions in the past.  Sanders accurately described how the current situations in Iran, Iraq and Libya came about because we concentrated on overthrowing dictators and didn't pay attention to what might come next.

While Sanders made an important point on incarceration -- the necessity of employment to avoid recidivism -- Clinton did make a passing reference to unions and organizing, acknowledging that they were debating in Wisconsin, where the union-busting Scott Walker is governor.  Clinton also questioned whether we could have tuition-free college in states where government is hostile to it.  Clinton can always find reasons why some things are not "practical" as she defers constantly to authorities and experts.  At one point she criticized Sanders for not voting for the 2007 immigration bill since, after all, "that was Ted Kennedy's bill."  Sanders pointed out that that was not a reason to vote for a bill that did not have a clearly designed path to citizenship.