Dem Debate: Buzzed, Annoyed and Inspired

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


kodak-LA-150.jpgBarack Obama and Hillary Clinton went mano-a-mano during a Democratic presidential debate broadcast from the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles on CNN Thursday night. The debate left me feeling buzzed, annoyed, and inspired. Here’s why:

Buzzed:
I strongly recommend drinking scotch with your friends and colleagues while watching political debates. Nothing like a little Johnny Black—neat—to liven things up a bit. Under the influence, you realize that Hillary makes these sort of pursed-lip fish faces when she’s listening to other people speak, and that Obama is a southpaw. Who knew?

Annoyed, Part 1:
I just wasn’t digging Wolf. His efforts to ask hard-hitting questions—the damn Hillary driver’s license question again? Sheesh, let’s move on!— were like poking at embers in a dwindling fire. And how does he get his beard and his hair to look so perfect?

Annoyed, Part 2:
What was with the lame camera work? I swear, 9 times out of 10, when Obama was speaking, they would cut to a black person in the crowd to get a reaction. And every time Hillary spoke, they’d cut to a female audience member. Okay, Barack is black, and Hillary is a woman. We get it, CNN.

Inspired:
I haven’t slogged through every single campaign trail debate like some of my MoJo colleagues (I prefer much less important topics like my own music snobbery), but I have to say that the debate mostly consisted of smart, healthy dialog about actual issues, with minimal bickering. Beneath all the mud we’ve seen in previous weeks, here was a glimmer of hope: a cordial, fairly meaningful conversation. And maybe it’s his smooth delivery, or maybe I’m just a sucker, but hearing Obama talk about getting people engaged in politics again is actually kinda sorta believable.

Lastly, how about Hollywood getting all political and stuff? Man, there were so many A-list stars in the Kodak theater, it could just as easily have been a casting call for the next Terrence Malick film! Folks like Alfre Woodard, Topher Grace, and Pierce Brosnan all had their serious game faces on (well, at least when the camera zoomed in for a close-up). Hell, even Stevie Wonder showed up!

When the end of the debate rolled around, Wolf asked the two candidates if they would consider running together; and the obvious jokes were made about whose name would come first. But based on the volume of the applause in the crowd, the idea actually seemed plausible. A black man and a woman running the country for four years: I can’t wait to see CNN’s coverage of that. The camera wouldn’t know which way to look.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate