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For this week’s Focus Friday, we discuss the first Democratic debate.
1. Who won the Democratic Debate?
Opinion columnist Austin Turman: There really isn’t ever a clear winner in presidential debates. That’s one of the bigger problems of presidential races. We focus on who won the entirety of a debate, rather than focusing on each question regarding policy and use those answers to develop a successful candidate for ourselves. This isn’t a high school debate team. These are presidential candidates. They don’t have all the answers or solutions to certain levels of policy. We can’t expect it to be that way. Each one of us has to take it upon ourselves to look for the best candidate that fits our own needs for policy change.
Opinion columnist Phylicia Sneed: I think Bernie Sanders won the debate. Most of the opponents agreed with him on plenty of the issues that were spoken about. He finally gave a concrete definition of socialism and democracy. It stirred up controversy for the Republican candidates like Donald Trump to accuse him of being a communist. Trump likes to label others and discriminate, in most instances. Bernie Sanders is leading a revolution in a new definition of electoral race where he is trying to level the playing field for the average person. He stood up for his opponents and showed true competitive spirit.
Opinion columnist Samuel Pichowsky: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic debate because, unlike the so-called front-runner Hillary Clinton, he gave direct answers. He was in charge of economic and environmental policy, but the only chinks in his Democratic armor were revealed when the topics of foreign policy and gun control took stage. This is not meant to criticize his views, but to point out that he did not adequately articulate or defend his views on these topics. These topics were not extensively talked about during the debate, and he was able to make his views sound populist and more attractive than Hillary Clinton’s. Clinton only accomplished not having a gaffe moment.
2. What were the differences between the Democratic Debate and the Republican Debate?
AT: The Republican debates are a circus. Instead of focusing on actual policy, they make crude and offensive jokes about each other and certain groups in the U.S.. Republicans apparently love turning our political system into a joke that they don’t even understand. What is even more troubling is that it works. You don’t see headlines saying it was nice seeing Bernie compliment Hillary. Rather, we see articles showing how Trump jokes about Paul’s looks. It’s even more ridiculous knowing that the entire world is watching this sideshow of horrors knowing that one of those people on the Republican debate could be our next president.
SP: The Democratic debate was different from the Republican debates because instead of candidates focusing on each other most of the time, they talked about policy. The only time the candidates really attacked each other’s views were on the subjects of gun control and Glass-Steagall. Other than that, the Democrats kept the debate classy and on topic. This is in stark contrast to the Republican debates where the candidates were focused on attacking each other’s experience, views, looks and backgrounds. The Democratic debate truly felt like sitting at the adult table. The candidates (or at least most of them) were knowledgeable about the policies being discussed and didn’t attack anyone’s national origins.
Opinion editor Anthony Torres: I think Martin O’Malley said it best. At no point did you hear anyone say anything racist, sexist nor did anyone verbally assault each other. The Republican debate, although it mostly comes from Donald Trump, has someone insulting someone almost every other time a candidate speaks. The Democrats definitely had their moments of disagreement, but in the end they all showed respect to each other and really showed their level of maturity. The biggest difference would have to be their policy emphases. Republicans focused more on national security and immigration reform, whereas the Democrats had more emphasis on education and entitlement programs.
-The Cougar opinion desk
