The Dispiriting Democratic Debate

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The American Conservative: The Dispiriting Democratic Debate

By DANIEL LARISON • October 14, 2015, 1:01 AM

As far as it concerned foreign policy issues, the first debate among the Democratic presidential candidates was a dispiriting affair. Hillary Clinton sailed through the evening virtually unscathed while her opponents struggled in vain to challenge her on anything. O’Malley’s criticism of the Libyan war remained vague and anemic, Sanders’ statements on Syria were dull and lacking in specifics, Chafee was generally hopeless, and Webb went out of his way to emphasize his biggest weakness by repeatedly touting his opposition to the nuclear deal with Iran. This allowed Clinton to shrug off criticisms of her support for the Libyan war, mute her differences with the rest of the field on Syria, and present herself as the most polished and prepared candidate of the group. The opportunity to attack Clinton on her foreign policy vulnerabilities was completely squandered, and none of the other candidates rose to the challenge last night.

 

Some of Webb’s answers may have been the most discouraging, because they came from someone with generally sound foreign policy judgment and yet they made so little sense. For instance, Webb diverted from answering a question about Libya to comment on Syria.