Miami Democratic Debate Proves Both Campaigns Don't Think It's Over

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

11 March 16

hen Hillary Clinton launched another misleading attack on Bernie Sanders, she was signaling that her campaign does not think they have the nomination wrapped up. If the Clinton campaign thought they had the nomination in hand they would not do anything to jeopardize winning over Sanders supporters.

It was by far the most spirited debate of the cycle. It was Bernie Sanders’ best debate, and could add to the momentum generated by his win in Michigan. Some point to his positions on Cuba as a reason Sanders lost the debate. They are wrong, and fail to see the generational divide in the Cuban community. When President Obama eased the sanctions with Cuba and restored diplomatic relations, Cubans under 65 supported the move.

Florida International University has polled Miami-area Cuban Americans since 1991. In its most recent survey, a slight majority of them supported lifting the embargo and a large majority, 68%, favored reopening diplomatic relations.

Older Cuban Americans, many of whom left Cuba in the years immediately after Fidel Castro’s revolution, still supported the embargo, the poll found; those younger than 65 did not. And let’s remember, the hard line anti-Castro Cubans will be choosing between Marco, Ted, and The Donald next Tuesday.

So once again the corporate media, with their lazy analysis, is peddling the outdated narrative that Cuban Americans are anti-Castro and would not support a candidate who wants to normalize relations and lift the embargo. Times have changed, and Bernie Sanders got it right.

On the environment, Sanders called on Clinton to join him in supporting a carbon tax and ending fracking. I have not heard any response from Clinton to his challenge.

Sanders renewed his call for Clinton to release the transcripts to her speeches to Goldman Sachs, saying they must have been great speeches to warrant the hundreds of thousands of dollars she received. Clinton’s response has always been that she will release the transcripts when all of the other presidential candidates release theirs. Bernie threw his arms in the air and said, “Here are the transcripts to my speeches to Wall Street – there are none.”

Time after time, Sanders put Clinton on the defensive. On the few occasions when Bernie was attacked, he easily deflected the attacks. Clinton returned to her auto bailout claim that has already been debunked by the media and fact checkers. Doubling down, she tried to tie Bernie to the Koch brothers. Anyone who knows Bernie knows that nobody has fought the Kochs harder than he has.

On immigration, they both scored points, and then both agreed to not deport children or illegal immigrants with no criminal record. I thought Bernie was more direct and believable when making the pledge. Hillary’s claim about Bernie voting for indefinite detention and support for the minutemen was similar to her auto bailout claim. On the minutemen, it was an amendment to a bigger bill that was deemed meaningless. It was designed to kill the bill, but was just ignored by Democrats because it was nothing more than a resolution and had no authority.

Hillary Clinton’s best moments were when she was defending herself from questions by the moderators on Benghazi and her emails. I didn’t see her lay out a vision for where she will take the country.

Overall, Bernie showed the country why he is doing so well in blue states. He forcefully laid out a true progressive agenda and forced Hillary to try to tell Democrats why the policies they believe in are not achievable. The crowd rose to its feet at the end, when Senator Sanders laid out his agenda and said, “That is why I am running for President!”

There is only one candidate that will motivate the blue team to turn out in November.

Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

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