In tight race, Democrats debate passion versus practicality

At last night’s Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton accused Bernie Sanders of wanting to gut Obamacare.

Clinton raced out of the gate touting her vast experience as former secretary of state, senator and point-woman for her husband Bill Clinton’s efforts to reform health care, saying Americans need a president who can do “all aspects of the job” and signaling that her rivals were not up to the task.

Leading up to the debate Hillary Clinton attacked Bernie Sanders on gun control.

Democratic Party leaders were expecting jabs, barbs and an exchange of blows at the Gaillard Center in Charleston as the gap narrowed between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in Iowa down to just a point or two.

Clinton rapped Sanders, the Vermont senator, for voting repeatedly with the National Rifle Association, and then welcomed his weekend reversal of position to support legislation that would deny gun manufacturers legal immunity. Clinton has made the issue a central theme of her campaign, citing it as one of the major differences between the candidates. Sanders shot back with criticisms of Clinton’s ties to financiers, including her acceptance of speaking fees from Wall Street firms.

Martin O’Malley on the other hand struggled to be heard.

Meanwhile, as Clinton and Sander sparred with each other, O’Malley just stared on silently before insisting that they have both been “inconsistent” on guns. Have I said a word? “I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA”, Sanders said before arguing that he has stood up several times to the gun lobby. The socialist senator for Vermont has extended his lead in New Hampshire, the second nominating state to vote in a primary on February 9th.


She also had a genuinely creepy, Michael-Corleone-in-“Godfather 2” moment when she basically said “we’re both part of the same hypocrisy” after the third man in the debate, Martin O’Malley, criticized her for raising money on Wall Street.

As for the existing law, he said, “We’re not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act – I helped write it”.

Responding to Mr Sanders’ most pointed attack on her, for taking campaign contributions and speaking fees from financial institutions, she assailed Sanders for having once called Mr Obama weak and disappointing and defended the president as a Moses-like figure.

According to Sanders’ plan, individuals would pay a 2.2 per cent “premium” and employers would pay a 6.2 per cent payroll tax to fund the health care plan.

Reflecting Sanders’ rise in opinion polls, the two battled with new urgency over who was best suited to lead Democrats in the November election. “I do not want to see the Republicans repeal it and I do not want to start over again with another contentious debate”.

“My guess is Clinton will lean heavily on the gun issue, and Sanders is not going to take that lying down”, said Dane Strother, an unaligned Democratic strategist.

“He voted to let guns go onto Amtrak, guns go into national parks”, she said. However, it is a different debate altogether if either of the candidates manage to satisfy the voters with their positions on the matter. “No, I have not”, he said on stage Sunday night.