After months of campaigning, two votes and the quiet elimination of Martin O’Malley, the Democratic primary has finally boiled down to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ idealism against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s moderated liberalism. They collided at UW-Milwaukee Thursday in the sixth Democratic debate.
Before the contest began, more than 100 protesters from the Black Lives Matter movement descended on the campus demanding a $15-per-hour minimum wage, a central plank of the Sanders campaign but not Clinton’s.
“If you want our vote, come get our vote,” protesters chanted, highlighting the growing legions of those who desire the quick change voiced by the Vermont senator.
“Sanders is painting a picture of what ought to be in his view and Clinton is painting a picture of what she thinks can be done,” UW-Madison journalism professor Michael Wagner explained.
Sanders’ America would establish both college education and health care as a “right of all Americans,” embrace illegal immigrants, retreat from free trade agreements and get big money out of politics. He disagrees with critics who say his progressive agenda would have slim chances of passing the Republican-controlled Congress, leaning on his well-worn call for a “political revolution … to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the one percent.”
Clinton is not buying it. She first went after Sanders’ call for European-style socialized medicine, warning that it would only result in extended gridlock in Washington.
“We both share the goal of universal health care coverage,” Clinton said. “But the last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate on health care again.”
Moderation and political reality also informed Clinton’s argument against Sanders’ popular call for free public college tuition. According to Clinton, the cost of college will continue to spike without greater commitment from state governments accompanied by incentives to make universities more efficient.
“Senator Sanders’ plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free,” Clinton told the Milwaukee audience. “I’m a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that.”
Regardless of her pleas to set achievable goals, Clinton remains handicapped by her past. Sanders repeatedly railed against the North American Free Trade Agreement, the trade deal with Mexico and Canada signed by Bill Clinton, alleging guilt by association.
“You once had a pension,” Sanders lamented. “Those jobs, in many cases are now gone … that manufacturing job is gone.”
Clinton was also attacked for receiving large donations from Wall Street titans like George Soros, which she claimed would not influence her regulatory policies.
“Let’s not insult the intelligence of the American people,” Sanders shot back. “People aren’t dumb. Why in God’s name does Wall Street make campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it.”
Sanders’ ideological purity may have made Clinton appear compromising and beholden to special interests, but according to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin D-Wis., she remains the best hope for progressives.
“I just want to make sure that we can actually get the job done,” Baldwin said following the debate. “That it’s not just talk, that it’s results.”
According to Wagner, those in Baldwin’s camp may prevail. He cautioned against predictions of Clinton’s collapse.
“I think this happens a lot in the primary elections where candidates who are more extreme get a lot of support from people who tend to vote in primaries,” Wagner said. “The more moderate people tend not to vote in primary elections. Right now Secretary Clinton’s position looks stronger.”
