A lot of Kos posters seem pissed off at Mayor Pete today. They should instead be grateful.
From the perspective of the overall health of the Democratic Party, there are only two benefits to these early debates: (1) To test the Democratic candidates and allow them the opportunity to refine their positions and arguments well before the election begins in earnest; and (2) To develop and refine their attacks on Donald Trump.
Mayor Pete was one of the few candidates who served those purposes last night, and that’s why the press is overwhelmingly dubbing him one of the biggest winners on the night. Examples:
Why? Because Pete Buttigieg was not afraid to take on the frontrunner, Warren, by criticizing her path towards Medicare For All and contrasting with it his own Medicare For All Who Want It path; and he was not afraid to call out other Democrats, such as Gabbard and Warren, for parroting Trump and right wing talking points on Syria and forcefully explaining why Trump’s position is wrong.
In contrast to Gabbard and Warren, who embraced Trump’s “endless wars” rhetoric and said all troops should leave the Middle East, Buttigieg noted that “You can put an end to endless war without embracing Donald Trump’s policy,” Buttigieg said. “What we were doing in Syria was keeping our word.” He also forcefully explained:
“Respectfully Congresswoman [Gabbard], I think that is dead wrong. The slaughter going on in Syria is not a consequence of American presence, it's a consequence of a withdrawal and betrayal by this president of American allies and American values.”
All of our candidates need to, respectfully and honestly, test each other. Mayor Pete did that last night. And all of our candidates need to call out the use of Republican talking points, which Mayor Pete also did last night. It’s through performances like Mayor Pete’s that we’ll end up with a stronger candidate in the general and better presentation of a Democratic vision of America.