Joe Biden hugged Barack Obama tightly as the former vice president came under attack from Bernie Sanders and Julián Castro. Elizabeth Warren went unscathed, while Kamala Harris stuck to a script.
By Shane Goldmacher and Reid J. Epstein
Updated Sept. 13, 2019, 2:29 a.m. ET
Thursday’s Democratic primary debate was the first time all the leading candidates were onstage together. The most illuminating exchanges were not between Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Elizabeth Warren, who met onstage for the first time, but from other pairings. Here are six highlights from the debate.
It was the best of Biden, and the Biden of Biden.
Once again this debate season, Mr. Biden came under the fiercest and most sustained scrutiny, from his ideological foes, from a former cabinet mate and even from the moderators. He was pushed on race, on deportations, on health care and, in an intense exchange, on his age.
But in the end, Mr. Biden exited the stage the same way he entered it: the embattled-yet-clear front-runner, no matter if his meandering syntax and twisting verbal gymnastics sometimes failed to land clear points.
One difference from the past two debates: He did begin to articulate more of his own case for the White House, rather than simply saying President Trump must be stopped. In particular, Mr. Biden came armed on the crucial topic of health care, with lines to joust with Senator Bernie Sanders and Ms. Warren over their support of an expansive Medicare for All plan.
“I know that the senator says she’s for Bernie, well, I’m for Barack,” Mr. Biden said to Ms. Warren, speaking not only about the Affordable Care Act but also the legacy of a popular former president.
The Biden strategy to bearhug Mr. Obama at every opportunity was questioned by rivals, but none figured out how to drive a wedge between the two men.
By evening’s end, however, Mr. Biden’s performance was uneven. Asked about a comment decades ago in regards to reparations for slavery — “I’ll be damned if I feel responsible to pay for what happened 300 years ago” — he ended up talking about playing the radio for small children to expand their vocabulary, and used an outdated reference if there ever was one.
“Make sure you have the record player on at night,” he said.
It was Mr. Biden’s most tweeted about line of the night.
Warren goes unscathed in fiercest debate yet.
While Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders argued to her right, and Julián Castro lobbed grenades at Mr. Biden from her left, Ms. Warren walked away unscathed.
Nobody attacked her. Nobody questioned her electability. Nobody said anything she’s done in her life was misguided. She wasn’t involved in the night’s most memorable exchanges.
In other words, she was exactly where she wanted to be.
For the one candidate in the race who has been steadily rising in the polls and seen her popularity among Democratic primary voters increase, Ms. Warren once again got off scot-free in a presidential primary debate. She didn’t instigate tension with the other candidates, and nobody said anything about her.
Along the way, Ms. Warren was able to define herself as the candidate with specific plans without getting into the muck of those arguing over policy specifics.
This approach has fed her steady rise from the mid-single digits to a virtual tie for second place with Mr. Sanders, and it will take another debate to see if anyone in the field will try to stop her.
Source: The New York Times
