I watched some of the Democratic presidential candidates’ debate last night and some of the discussion afterwards on CNN and Fox, and read a few highlights this morning.
Here are some thoughts.
Mueller: the dog that didn’t bark.
Not a word was said about the Mueller report or Mueller’s recent testimony. Search for “Mueller” on the the Washington Post’s debate transcript and you get zero hits. A lot of that, of course, is up to the three people asking questions and Dana Bash and Don Lemon are pretty clearly in the tank for anyone who could defeat Donald Trump. (Tapper seems more even-handed.) None of them asked a question about the report and none of the candidates initiated. I take this to mean that the questioners and the candidates think pursuing the Mueller report issues gives the Democrats no mileage in defeating Trump.
John Delaney’s Refreshing Defense of Private Health Insurance
In criticizing Senator Elizabeth Warren’s and Senator Bernie Sanders’s call for “Medicare for All,” Delaney said, “we don’t have to go around and be the party of subtraction, and telling half the country, who has private health insurance, that their health insurance is illegal.”
A lot of people on the web made fun of Delaney. I thought he did a good job. It’s too bad that he also has the worst proposal of any of the candidates: compulsory national service for every American at age 18. [Note: If you go to the above link, you’ll see that author Rebecca Klar writes, “Every American over the age of 18 would be required to serve the country for at least one year under a plan proposed by presidential candidate former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.). ” There are over 200 million Americans over age 18. I’m pretty sure that Delaney plans to go after “only” the vulnerable 18-year olds, not 68-year olds like me.]
Senator Warren seems to be getting kudos for this comeback to Delaney:
I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for.
Really? That gets kudos? Delaney talks about what’s politically and economically feasible and that’s bad? In fact, the contribution of someone who talks about what we really can’t do is enormously valuable.
Marianne Williamson’s Major Contradiction About Corporations
In her 9-minute interview with Anderson Cooper afterwards, at about the 4:25 point, Ms. Williamson says that the problems began about 40 years ago when corporations ceased to care about workers or other people in the community. I wish she would read Tyler Cowen’s most-recent book. Later, at the 7:26 point, she says:
American civilization is not stuck in the 20th century the way American politics is. Everybody else has moved forward: in business, in education, in medicine, we have a much more whole-person perspective in life.
I actually think she’s onto something, which is why her earlier comment about corporations is wrong.
READER COMMENTS
Jeremy N
Jul 31 2019 at 3:25pm
I’ve been thinking for a while now that Democrats refuse to believe in scarcity. They refuse to acknowledge tradeoffs or costs of their programs, and Senator Warren’s response is right on message. Hopeful and optimistic yet completely detached from reality.
Mark Z
Jul 31 2019 at 8:14pm
I’m curious how people were making fun of Delaney for his remarks on private health insurance. Was with Ezra Klein talking point that ‘socialized healthcare will render private insurance redundant, so obviously private health insurance will be outlawed?’ A contention I find laughably nonsensical, since a policy will render a private market redundant is a perfect reason for why it doesn’t need to be outlawed. If someone say, “I have a policy that will replace X, so of course I’m outlawing X” it’s almost a certainty that they don’t actually believe their policy will actually replace it.
Thomas Sewell
Jul 31 2019 at 8:50pm
I tuned in to try to and watch part of the debate about 15 minutes after the start. Generally, I’m pretty interested, but after five flat-out lies in the ten minutes I watched, I just couldn’t take viewing it any more.
The bubble-differences between the Democratic Presidential candidates’ realities and economic reality plus the experiences of much of the rest of the country are a huge gap to bridge.
Benjamin Cole
Aug 1 2019 at 12:58am
The D-Party appears ready to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The usual jokes about the debate stealing material from SNL or the Gong Show belong here.
There is some truth Marianne W.’s comments regarding corporations. There was a time most companies were neighborhood or city-based, then regional, and then national. “What is good from GM is good for the country,” had a ring of truth in it.
Today “What is good for Ford may be good for Mexico, but maybe not for Detroit,” also has a ring of truth in it.
The multi-national, or supranational corporation, with fiduciary obligations to global shareholder bases (about one-third of US stock market capitalization is owned offshore), is by necessity amoral, with zero allegiance to any city, region or nation. Not immoral, but amoral. Milton Friedman said this is how it should be. Maybe he was right.
A supranational will happily do business with Beijing, even it benefits the Communist People’s Liberation Army (the US Joints Chiefs of Staff says Google does this). Also, sell product and services to Riyadh (they murdered Khashoggi, quickly forgotten). Apple designs product in the US, makes product in Red China, but says it makes its profits in Ireland and Bermuda. So it goes.
That being the case, the US public should expect nothing from the amoral supranationals, as they once might have from a city-based business two generations ago—but also the US public should not pay for global guard service for the supranationals (the US military).
Billy Kaubashine
Aug 1 2019 at 12:11pm
The dog that isn’t barking is Michelle Obama. I wonder what her positions on the above mentioned issues will be when she jumps into the race.
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