Democratic Presidential Debate on CBS

Clinton struck a sharp contrast to Obama’s comments in an interview aired on Friday that ISIS had been contained.

“We’re at war with jihadists”, Clinton said at a debate taking place one day after more than 120 people were killed by terrorists in Paris.

Who do you think won the Democratic presidential debate on Saturday night?

“It can not be contained”.

“My son is not a pair of boots on the ground”, O’Malley said a mother told him.

With the political clock ticking to the first nominating contest in Iowa on February 1, Clinton has opened a commanding lead over Sanders, her prime challenger, in national and Iowa polls.

Republican presidential contenders have criticized Obama for what they say was an inadequate response to the rise of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

O’Malley argued that the problem wasn’t simply limited to Clinton’s vote for the Iraq invasion, pointing to “cascading effects” that followed. “It’s not just about getting rid of a single dictator”, he said.

The former secretary of state fought back, saying terrorism has been erupting for decades, specifically mentioning the September 11, 2001, attacks. Where were we attacked? Where were we attacked? She said her ties to Wall Street were largely focused on helping that part of the city recover after the 9/11 attacks. “It was a way to rebuke the terrorists who attacked our country”.

In the end, who do you think won the debate?

Sanders said that he didn’t want to offer a “magic number” but that it was the United States’ “moral responsibility” to accept refugees in conjunction with its allies in Europe and the Middle East.

O’Malley proposed allowing 65,000 Syrian refugees into the country, more than the 10,000 proposed by Obama, though he said they need “proper screening”.

“People should look for two things in the debate: One is to what extent do the candidate try to distinguish themselves from each other so Democratic voters will know how to make a choice among the various candidates”. This phrase is preferred by Republicans, who have accused Democrats of shying away from a forthright description of ISIS. “As Americans we have shown ourselves to have the greatest military on the face of the planet but we are not so very good at anticipating threat”.

“I think with this kind of barbarism and nihilism, it’s very hard to understand, other than the lust for power, the rejection of modernity, the total disregard for human rights, freedom, or any other value that we know and respect”, she adds. Cautioning against painting with “too broad a brush”, she added: “We are at war with violent extremism”. And they fought over the degree to which they would curtail large financial institutions, with Sanders describing Wall Street’s business model as “greed and fraud” – a startling judgment for a major presidential candidate. “My proposal is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive, because I go after all of Wall Street, not just the big banks”.

Workers stand at the podiums on stage during final preparations for…

O’Malley also hit Clinton for not backing the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall, the Depression-era law that split commercial and investment banking.

As he did in the previous debate, Sanders said the attention given to Clinton’s private emails were distracting from real issues in the campaign.

Sanders pushed back, saying he has voted repeatedly for background checks for gun buyers. But he also pivoted to Clinton, accusing her of shifting her positions over time.

Responding to Sanders, Clinton noted that most of her contributors were small donors and said, to loud applause, that 60 percent were women. “I couldn’t have said it better myself”.

A lot has changed since Clinton, Sanders and O’Malley met for their first showdown in Las Vegas last month. Since then, two have dropped out. Her support for the 2003 Iraq invasion played a major role in her primary loss to Obama in the 2008 White House race.

And Clinton has had fresh momentum heading into the debate.