Warren and Sanders Stand Pat, but Look Out for Marianne

[Elderberry]

National Review by Jim Geraghty July 30, 2019

Rarely have you seen a Democratic presidential-primary debate where the interests of the candidates and the interests of the moderators were so at odds. CNN’s questioners wanted specific answers in a one-minute window. Most of the candidates wanted to pivot to their preferred messages — illegal immigrants are human beings too, I care about your health and insurance companies don’t, Trump is just the worst, etc. The words uttered most frequently tonight were a loud, sudden, interrupting “thank you, Senator!” from the moderators.

With 60-second time limits on answers, the responses were brief and not all that illuminating. Most veteran debaters either deliberately or reflexively insert generic phrases such as “we need a real solution” or “this is about who we are as Americans” or “we can’t get distracted, we need to focus on the American people” or some such blather. CNN (and much of the audience) wanted to see lively and spirited disagreement, and few candidates had any time to really get their arguments rolling.

CNN clearly also wanted the candidates to contrast with each other, and a handful of previously not-so-noticed, more moderate candidates came to play: Representative John Delaney, Montana governor Steve Bullock, former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, Representative Tim Ryan. The bad news for these guys is that they amount to about 5 percent combined right now, and it’s hard to see any one of them breaking out, just based upon tonight.

A lot of us are laughing about Marianne Williamson, but there’s some of that same dynamic that drove Trump to the nomination in 2016. She’s a figure who’s famous for being connected to the entertainment world, who isn’t interested in policy details, and who emotes in a way that generates raucous applause from the audience. She’s the political candidate for people who aren’t that into politics. Ben Smith of BuzzFeed mentioned that a Marianne Williamson staffer told him, “when she visits the networks, reporters and producers sneer at her, but the makeup artists always cry when they meet her.”

And her lack of interest in policy means she’s always talking about bigger, vaguer, more emotionally resonant themes in her own kooky way: “This is part of the dark underbelly of American society, the rainfall, the bigotry, and the entire conversation that we’re having here tonight, if you think any of this wonkiness is going to deal with this dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred that this president is bringing up in this country, then I’m afraid that the Democrats are going to see some very dark days.” A chunk of the American people is going to find talk about “dark psychic force” as crystal-waving nonsense. Another chunk of the American people is going to hear Williamson and respond, “finally, a candidate is addressing the real problem.”

More: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/democratic-debate-elizabeth-warren-bernie-sanders-stand-pat-look-out-for-marianne-williamson/