Reflections on the Democratic Debate

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.

The post Reflections on the Democratic Debate appeared first on Econlib.

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