The presidential primaries have been bombarding the media of late with news regarding each candidate. Just yesterday was the New York primary election, in which Hillary Clinton won 58 percent of the votes, and Bernie Sanders lost with 42 percent of the votes.
According to CNBC, Clinton exclaimed in “her victory speech that ‘there’s no place like home,’ and boasted that her campaign had won in every region of the country.”
Clinton stated, “From the north to the south to the east to the west, but this one’s personal.”
Looking back to what foreshadowed Clinton’s victory in the New York primary is the last democratic debate between her and Bernie Sanders.
Last Thursday was New York’s Democratic debate, during which Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders had a tense battle in the Duggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn. The atmosphere of the debate was very strained, as usual, with supporters for each candidate deeply engrossed in the huge and vital competition between the two very distinct individuals.
Sanders, as described by Julian Zelizer from CNN is “the warrior of the left who taps into the spirit of Ted Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy and other politicians who have argued that change starts from the bottom up and leaders need to be adamant about principle.”
Clinton, Zelizer describes is “the champion of Washington-based pragmatic liberalism who – like Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and to a certain extent Barack Obama – believes that Democrats need to make adjustments in order to survive within a very conservative political world.”
If I was asked to choose a winner of the last democratic debate, I would say Hillary Clinton.
She did not have an easy win, as Sanders made some sharp attacks regarding money, politics and foreign policy – specifically the Iraq war. He also made a biting claim that it was her fault that she did not expect the consequences of the military action to oust Moammar Ghadaffi.
However, Clinton “made up” her claimed “shortcomings,” in a calm and wise manner. She brought up the topic of gun control, and Sanders had a hard time explaining his gun control record. Moreover, he did not clearly answer the question about whether he would apologize to the Sandy Hook victims.
Also, when the issue of “fracking” was brought up, Clinton clearly pointed out that, while it is relatively easy to pinpoint a problem, it is relatively more difficult to effectively do something about it. This was a good comeback at Sanders, who criticized her “incrementalism” on energy policy.
Decisively, when discussing the Supreme Court, Clinton stated her vow to fight for women’s issues, criticizing the reality in which very few questions had been raised during the primary campaigns regarding women’s reproductive rights.
Although Sanders did do well, Clinton performed slightly better and did not let Sanders make any holes in her campaign.
ppark1@ramapo.edu
