Moderate Democrats Attack the Progressive Turn of Sanders and Warren

The new round of debates to choose the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate turns on the centrists, who say that impossible promises will help Trump get reelected.

The differences between the centrist Democrats and the more left-leaning candidates resembled a head-on collision Tuesday night in Detroit. During the third pre-primary debate among the 2020 presidential candidates, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who represent the more progressive side of the Democratic Party, were directly attacked for taking moderate positions that have so far gone unnoticed. The discussion of public and universal health care was at the center of this confrontation, although the underlying problem extended to all areas.

“We have a choice, we can go down the road that Sen. Sanders and Sen. Warren want to take us, which is with bad policies like Medicare for All, free everything and impossible promises. It will turn off independent voters and get Trump reelected. That’s what happened with McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis,” warned former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, referring to Democratic presidential candidates defeated in the past. “Or we can,” he continued, “nominate someone with new ideas to create universal health care for every American, with choice, someone who wants to unify our country.”

Medicare is the government-managed and -funded health insurance program that covers Americans over 65. What more than half of the candidates want is to expand it for all citizens, but only Sanders, Warren and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, also defend eliminating the current private health insurance system.

Sanders defended his position vehemently. “Health is a human right, not a privilege,” he stressed, and gave as an example America’s neighbor to the north, Canada, where “the health service is guaranteed to each person” and where the cost “is half.” “Now we have a dysfunctional system, with 87 million people without coverage or with low coverage, 500,000 Americans every year going bankrupt because of medical bills.” Along the same lines, Warren argued that they had already tried the mixed system, with Medicare, Medicaid (the program for low-income people) and the private system, “and it had not worked.”

The gap between the centrist and the most progressive discussion was also evident in the immigration debate, as some Democrats argued that undocumented immigration constitutes a crime, as well as noting the possibility of granting free health services to workers residing illegally in the U.S.

Rep. Tim Ryan, of Ohio, a state Trump won in the 2016 presidential election, offered some of the harshest criticism. “Now, in this discussion already tonight, we’ve talked about taking private health insurance away from union members in the Industrial Midwest, we’ve talked about decriminalizing the border and we’ve talked about giving free healthcare to undocumented workers when so many Americans are struggling to pay for their healthcare.” He goes on to say, “I quite frankly don’t think that is an agenda that we can move forward on and win. We’ve got to talk about the working class issues, the people that take a shower after work, who haven’t had a raise in 30 years.”

This type of exchange, in tone, was a much more agile and acidic debate than the first two, held a month ago in Miami. Somehow, it turned out that on this proud night, all the centrists who have been unnoticed in the campaign called out a very real and widespread concern: Will a progressive turn stir the bases and achieve victory, or will it frighten the independent and moderate voters? In response, Warren, already tired of hearing about “impossible promises,” said, “I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for.”

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is not among the moderates but who does not embrace the ideology of Warren and Sanders, urged his rivals to decide their positions based on what they legitimately believe, beyond the good or bad press that entails. “Look, if it’s true that if we embrace a far left agenda, they’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. If we embrace a conservative agenda, you know what they’re going to do? They’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists,” he snapped, causing laughter.

The night’s discussion went a long way: the moderate centrists spoke out and responded to questions, but Sanders and Warren, the most veteran participants in the debate format, defended their ideas firmly and with data, in some cases taking positions they have worked on for years. Buttigieg came out well, although he was more discreet, and regained some ground lost to Beto O’Rourke of Texas. This Wednesday night, the other 10 candidates will have their turn, with former Vice President Joe Biden, who is leading in the opinion polls, and Sen. Kamala Harris, as the main event. The former prosecutor overwhelmed Biden in Miami and now he can seek revenge.