There were a lot of words spoken on the debate stage tonight. And some of the schisms in the Democratic race were on stark display: Medicare for all. Decriminalizing immigration. The Green New Deal. But we are still early in the primary process and you could be excused for asking if all of this sound and fury signifies anything.
We had a group of moderates gasping for electoral oxygen (with the exception of Buttigieg who is in a stronger position) and two top tier progressives - Sanders and Warren - arguing that the Democrats should not shrink away from being the party of big ideas. That was the narrative going in. Did anything change? I doubt it.
Many people we heard from tonight will not be on the stage, or in the race, much longer. Warren and Sanders did not really mix it up with each other. And meanwhile, the moderate Democrat leading the race, Biden, was not on the stage. Tomorrow night he will have his chance to frame the race.
The detail - some would say minutiae - of many of the policy debates tonight is also a bit beyond the point. It might effect some of the primary race. But in the big picture, the general election won’t be about policy. The president has none other than the rhetoric of outrage. I think many Democrats tonight were closing their eyes and thinking of their vote by one simple metric: Who could win? And hopefully win big. What she or he would do next would just be a bonus.
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