Hillary Won the First Democratic Debate

Hillary Clinton was the winner of the first debate among Democrats who aspire to be their party’s successor to Barack Obama. After months of wearing talk about her use of a private Internet server during her term as secretary of state, the ex-first-lady showed herself to be confident, articulate and above all, authentic. Having been criticized many times for having an excessively calculated and rehearsed style, Hillary was convincing on the center of the stage that she shared with four men.

That being said, the pre-candidate received help from her principal adversary, Sen. Bernie Sanders, when he discarded questions revolving around the polemic of the Internet server. According to Sanders, Americans are “sick and tired” of discussions about Hillary’s emails and want to debate real problems that affect the future of the country’s middle class.

After avoiding an emphasis on gender identity in the dispute she had with Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary put the female question at the center of her speech She said that the fact of being a woman would be the most “obvious” change in relation to the current president, and made a passionate defense of paid maternity leave — a nonexistent right in U.S. at the federal level.

Defending benefits, she also attacked what she called the “inconsistency” of Republicans, who criticize maternity leave by arguing that the state should not be interfering in the personal lives of its citizens, but who try to impede the functioning of the principal provider of abortions and family planning.

A Social Democrat in a country that venerates capitalism, Sanders rose in the polls with his discourse critical of Wall Street, large corporations and campaign financing by billionaires, which forced Hillary Clinton to move to the left in her proposals. When the debate moderator Anderson Cooper asked the candidates who they would like to have known as their enemies, the ex-secretary of state mentioned the pharmaceutical industry, arms manufacturers, Iran and the Republicans.

With the most left-wing proposals of all the debate participants, Sanders had a vacillating performance with regard to gun control, less than two weeks after yet another mass shooting which left 10 people dead in Oregon. As a senator from Vermont, the candidate said there is a difference between rural and urban states in relation to the question of gun control. The majority of the other CNN debate participants criticized him for this stance.

“It’s time the entire country stand up against the NRA,” declared Hillary, in reference to the National Rifle Association, the principal lobbyist for the arms industry in America. The ex-secretary of state reminded people that Sanders voted on five occasions against proposals that attempted to impose stricter rules on that sector.

Hillary called herself a “pragmatic progressive” who tries to effect change, while Sanders presented himself as the only candidate who can rise against the power of the billionaires of Wall Street and of the “1 percent.”

The main criticism directed against Hillary targets her actions with regard to foreign policy: her support for the war in Iraq in 2003, the 2011 U.S. action in Libya when she was secretary of state, and her recent defense of a no-fly zone in Syria. In spite of yesterday’s good performance, the candidate continues to confront investigations about her emails and questions about her tenure with the Obama administration.

In a general way, the debate showed many more agreements between the candidates than that of the two previous Republican debates, which were marked by attacks and insults from Donald Trump against women, immigrants and his fellow party members.

Agreement among the candidates was stressed by the majority of the debate participants, but the governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, emphasized this in a special manner. “On this stage you didn’t hear anyone denigrate women, you didn’t hear anyone make racist comments about new immigrants, you didn’t hear anyone speak ill of anyone because of their religious belief.”