Kamala vs Joe: Democratic Debate Part 2

Part 2 of the 2nd Democratic Debate — AKA Kamala vs Joe Pt.II — took place Wednesday night at the Fox Theater in Detroit.  Was it everything it was billed to be?  You better believe it!

Politics
In what many political pundits (and even CNN) billed as ‘Kamala vs Joe Pt. II, the Wednesday night debate featured former Vice President Joe Biden, California Sen. Kamala Harris, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, and businessman Andrew Yang.

Unlike Tuesday night’s snooze-fest, the Wednesday night match-up was riveting and attention-grabbing.  Or, to use a basketball reference, Tuesday’s debate was a G-League amateur game while Wednesday’s event was more like the NBA finals.

The debate began with an elongated discussion on health care that segued into immigration, white privilege, and a thought-provoking discussion about police brutality and the Eric Garner “I Can’t Breathe” killing by a New York City police officer (who remains employed by the city to this day).  Interestingly, Sen. Gillibrand scored on both topics by discussing how she would handle explaining white privilege to her suburban white voters, and how she believes NYC Mayor De Blasio should have fired the police officer who killed Garner.

Throughout the debate, several statements and remarks were interrupted by protesters in the crowd, who were quickly removed from the auditorium and did not delay the candidates nor throw them off their presentations.

Here are the other highlights of the evening.

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STANDOUT PERFORMANCES

For anyone who tuned in to watch a rematch of Kamala Harris vs Joe Biden, the contenders did not disappoint.  Once again, Sen. Kamala Harris lit a fire under the former vice-president, however, Biden was much more prepared this time around and did not play “Mr. Nice Guy” with the junior senator.

“Go easy on me, kid!” – Joe Biden to Kamala Harris at start of debate

While Harris continued to chide Biden on his former relationships with segregationist politicians, Biden took a few pot-shots of his own against Harris’ record while Attorney General of California — a record some say was unfavorable toward African-Americans.

Aside from Harris and Biden (the obvious stars of the evening), Sen, Cory Booker, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, and possibly Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand were the other standouts of the night.  The remaining contenders were relegated to mere set dressing and will likely have a difficult time qualifying for the next debate in September.

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STANDOUT LINES OF THE NIGHT

If Wednesday’s debate were an episode of “Showtime At The Apollo,” the number of hoots and hollers from a myriad of one-liners would have been epic.  Let’s take a look at some of the best lines of the night:

Sen. Bennet: “Mr, President, kids belong in classrooms, not cages.”

Michael Yang: “The opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math.”

Sen. Inslee: “We can no longer allow a white nationalist to be in the White House.”

Sen. Gillibrand: “The first thing I’m gonna do as president is Clorox the Oval Office.”

Of course, a few serious one-liners were also delivered.  They included Sen. Cory Booker saying, “The person enjoying this debate right now is Donald Trump as we pit Democrats against each other.” Another came when Mr. Biden said, “Mr. President, this is America, and we are strong and great because of this diversity [of women and minorities on the stage], not in spite of it.”

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SO, WHO WON?

At one point in the evening, Joe Biden appeared to be beaten up and on the ropes by Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and even Julian Castro.

Booker scolded Biden for invoking Obama more than any other candidate and warned that he can’t have it both ways when it comes to immigration.

During a discussion on the criminal justice system, Mr. Biden attempted to compare his record against Cory Booker’s tenure as Mayor of Newark, NJ.  It did not go well.

“You’re dippin’ into the kool-aid and you don’t even know the flavor,” Booker said, using a common slang phrase from African-American vernacular.  The audience howled.

With that said, Cory Booker appeared to be the most focused, the most prepared, and the most presidential candidate.  So, if there was one winner for the night, he was likely it.

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SUMMARY

With memorable debate performances from both nights, it now appears clear which Democrats should continue fighting and which are not really ready for prime-time and should start to consider that it might be time to call it a campaign.

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, and Kirsten Gillibrand are the current cream of the crop. As for the remaining candidates, it may be time for them to go and make room on stage for those candidates who are likely to win. If they don’t do so on their own, Democratic donors will soon start exclusively funding the top tier candidates and the others will find themselves without funding and left to falter.

However, make no bones about it: the true loser of the entire debate was Donald Trump.  Despite their differences, Democrats have some serious fire-power to put up against ‘The Donald’ in 2020 and certainly have enough premium candidates who can beat him and likely send him to a federal penitentiary the moment he becomes a private citizen.

NEXT DEBATE: 
September 12th & 13th, Houston, TX on ABC.

OK WASSUP! discusses Politics:
Kamala vs Joe was a riveting Democratic debate.