Those looking for signs of Hillary Clinton’s imminent collapse from inevitability — Joe Biden included — did not see them Tuesday night. Clinton breezed through the first Democratic Presidential debate of the 2016 cycle, consistently outperforming Bernie Sanders (not to mention the three non-entities cluttering the stage).
That’s not a surprise. Clinton is extremely well-versed on the full range of issues, is disciplined in preparation, and benefits from extensive experience in high-wire televised debates.
She was additionally aided by her opponents, who were either unable or unwilling to hit her with anything that might dislodge her equilibrium. It wasn’t just Sanders playing to the Democratic crowd by saying, “the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.” Sanders, so intent on emphasizing his diagnoses of what ails America, never put Clinton on the defensive about her own record.
She, however, did it to him. Early on, Clinton took it to Sanders on his gun-control record. He was left to weakly respond that the issue requires compromise and coalition-building, because many people don’t agree — quite a departure from his fire-and-brimstone prescriptions on economic issues. Sanders, though he had a strong debate overall, was also particularly outclassed by Clinton on foreign policy issues.
He — or someone — will need to do more in future debates to bring her down, and there aren’t many more opportunities to do so.
