Confident Hillary Delivers at Milwaukee Debate

Last Thursday night, Hillary and Bernie Sanders once again squared off against one another in just their second head-to-head primary debate. The debate hosted by PBS at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee lacked much of the bitterness witnessed at the previous New Hampshire debate. Instead, Hillary’s debate performance was marked by an air of calm self-confidence befitting of a frontrunner poised to seize back control of the race after suffering her first loss in New Hampshire. The critics seem to agree – Hillary won the Milwaukee debate.

Up to this point in the primary race, Hillary has struggled to find her one lucid line of attack against Bernie Sanders. Those struggles evaporated on Thursday night as Hillary showcased a clear strategy designed to box Sanders in and brand him as a “single issue” candidate who will never be able to master the art of being a jack-of-all-trades President. Her strategy was on full display when she delivered a masterful closing statement that cut to the heart of the differences between her and Sanders. As Hillary stated in her closing remarks:

We agree that we’ve got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here’s the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single issue country.

The branding of Sanders as a “single issue” candidate is likely a line of attack that you will hear Hillary and her surrogates use against him for the foreseeable future. It is an effective strategy that accomplishes many important goals for Hillary’s campaign. Primarily, it casts Sanders as a run-of-the-mill protest candidate who can enjoy populist support around his key issue of economic equality, but who otherwise has a flimsy understanding of everything else. This strategy advances the argument from Hillary that she has the broad experience and qualifications necessary to become President in a world that requires its leaders to be nimble.

On a day in which the Congressional Black Caucus formally endorsed her, it was also quite clear that Hillary had her mind on South Carolina and its large African-American voting population on Thursday night. She heaped praise on President Obama (who enjoys great popularity among African-Americans) at almost every turn on Thursday night. Some of her praising statements included:

And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama’s principal accomplishment — namely the Affordable Care Act — is because I know how hard it was to get that done.

I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did.

We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system…I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president…

You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves…

Hillary’s performance on Thursday night was vintage Hillary Clinton. She came across as calm, confident, and most of all, presidential. Just when the media vultures were ready to pounce after her loss in New Hampshire, she delivered under pressure in what may have been her best debate performance yet.