Criticism from someone here in the UK.
So, I'm currently watching the most recent Democratic debate on YouTube between Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley. I'm watching it as a keen Politics enthusiast and, I have to be honest, I'm disappointed.
Now, to highlight my own political leaning for a moment. I consider myself to the left of centre and tend to go for more socialist policies. However, if I could have voted in 2010 I would've voted Liberal Democrat. I voted Green Party in last year's election and I'm likely to join the Labour Party this year. So that's where I lean. However, I'm open to all party's policies when they are released. So I went into the Charleston debate with open eyes even though I do have a preference. As I'm not American, my opinion doesn't matter. But here's my own personal view on the debate.
Bernie Sanders
On the surface, Bernie seems like a pretty nice guy. He seems to be passionate about the little guy in society and has definitely brought up the class divide in America with some force. However, what I found about Sanders is that he continually makes the same point over and over again. While the point may well be correct, it comes up again and again. Even for someone who identifies as left-wing, it does get a bit bored after a while. While he makes some good points about Wall Street, campaign funding by the business bosses and the Republican thinking behind climate change but his continual spiel about the class system in the US and how we need to take down the big banks does become a little dry and repetitive. Which is a shame, really, as it is a good point to make.
I also find Bernie a bit difficult to relate to. Doing some outside research, it seems to be someone from the post-war generation who wants one more stab at the limelight. I don't for a moment question his experience but it does feel like he's desperately trying to relive the glory days one last time. This bothers me. I agree with him on some points but the majority of his stuff seems rather populist among young people. Which I'm not against but it does appear to me to be buying off youth voters with promises of things he cannot really guarantee.
Hillary Clinton
I'm wary of Hillary Clinton. Not because she's a woman, I'm not misogynist like that. But I find her quite scary actually. While I will admit she's very good at PR and does say the right things, I still firmly believe she is the populist vote. People were giving Hillary a lot of attention when figures in the party were announcing their candidacy and I firmly believe that she decided to run on the back of this renewed attention. While I'm not going to criticise much of what she did as Secretary of State in the first Obama administration but I do feel that she's in it for the glory. And I think that comes through during the debates.
I also find Hillary very arrogant. I just don't like her as a person. If I was more aware of what happened in the 1990s I might've been a bit more sympathetic to her during Monicagate but I don't like her now. I find her very arrogant and I think that she's definitely the candidate out of the three who's majorly bank-rolled. Which is an issue. Especially compared to Bernie who prides himself on not being bank-rolled as much. I also think she's riding off the back of her husband. Which is likely to be a sore topic in the Clinton household I'm sure.
Martin O'Malley
If I was in America, I would definitely want O'Malley to be the candidate. There's my bias. I just think he's a well-spoken, well-read and interesting man. And, personally, I think he had the best arguments of the debate. Being critical of national policy while giving some interesting anecdotes of where he succeeded in his own state of Maryland when he was Governor. However, what annoyed me most about the whole debate was how, when Sanders and O'Malley were vying to speak in order to counteract a point, Sanders was usually chosen to speak instead. This annoyed me as it seemed like they NBC were deliberately not giving him more of a platform to express his views and plans for the United States. Hence why I've just been clapping for a couple of minutes after his jibe about wanting "30 seconds" to talk about national security.
I think what's charming about O'Malley is that he knows he's not going to get nominated because of the slightly more high profile candidates of Sanders and Clinton. This means he can get away with saying a lot more meaningful stuff with less consequences. This is what I love about him. He can be slightly more cheeky yet still say the things that should in most circumstances ring true with many people.
But as I say, he knows he won't get the nomination so he can get away with more.
So, yeah. That's my take. Just my opinion. ONLY my own opinion.
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