Palmetto Posturing- Recapping the 2016 Charleston GOP Debate
…and then there were ten…ten remaining Republican contestants, each longing for a good showing in next month’s Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary.
In the final run-up to those opening contests, ten of the eleven remaining candidates for the GOP presidential nomination participated in Thursday night’s debate in North Charleston, South Carolina. Included in the comparatively raucous crowd, was South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, fresh off of her response to the State of the Union where she attempted to tacitly assail front-runner Donald Trump for his stance on temporarily banning Muslim immigration, and the erstwhile-trailing candidate Lindsey Graham, who this very morning endorsed Jeb Bush (no shock, there), who is the ultimate mainstream, moderate go-along-with, get-along-with Washington insider, and who never had ANY chance of either winning the nomination or being elected, in the first place.
For his own part, Trump needed to tamp down the potential effects of Governor Haley’s comments regarding the “angry voices who would seek to ban immigration”. He also very much needed to rise above the fray, and certify his credentials that he can lead the party to victory, despite what the establishment Republicans and talking heads in the media would have the rest of us believe. On those scores, “the Donald” managed to make a good show of it, by “owning” the “anger” to which Governor Haley had alluded. His finest moment, however, occurred when he chastised Ted Cruz for his commentary regarding Trump’s “New York values”, reminding the Texas Senator of the greatness of New Yorkers’ response in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Going into the debate, Ted Cruz had the toughest job of all- to disencumber the notion that his Canadian birth to an American mother disqualifies him as a “natural born” citizen and candidate for president, all the while doing so with charm and charisma- the two things that so far have seemed to be his personal drawbacks, despite the fact that he is the most-consistently conservative and intellectually-savvy candidate running. He addressed the former well enough, but fell a bit short of cementing his legitimacy as a viable candidate, even though the fact that the circumstances of his birth indeed qualifies him as a “natural born” candidate. He also provided some good one-liners, but ultimately lost his dust-up with Marco Rubio, regarding Rubio’s charges that Cruz has repeatedly flip-flopped on immigration.
Marco Rubio, himself, needed to utilize his glib delivery and statesmanlike oratory to underwrite his credentials as someone who can take on Hillary Clinton without fear or a propensity to be shut down, if such a debate were to occur next autumn. In short, he delivered splendidly- quashing any doubts that he has the skills to effectively and aggressively take on both Hillary and Obama. Not one of the contenders can frame an argument, or deliver it more convincingly, than Marco Rubio, as he has consistently shown in the course of these debates.
Dr. Ben Carson needed to show that he is continuing to master the issues- something that was sorely lacking in his first few performances. He also needed to show a bit more aggressiveness, so that the voters can believe he has a chance to defeat Hillary in an election. As to the former, he has caught up with the rest of the field, in his understanding of the issues, and was quite masterful in delineating his platform regarding the same. Sadly, as to the latter, he is just not combative enough to take down Hillary Clinton, in the way that she would need to be taken down in a debate because, in this election year, a nice guy like Carson would come up short, in this regard.
Chris Christie, on the other hand, is the quintessential opposite of Dr. Carson as he has the fight necessary to put Mrs. Clinton on the proverbial mat. What Christie needed to do, last night, was to dissuade the notion that he is too moderate to gain the support of conservatives in a way that Mitt Romney, John McCain, Bob Dole and Gerald Ford could not, costing them elections in 2012, 2008, 1996 and 1976, respectively. There is no doubt as to Christie’s dedication to the mission at hand- that is to defeat Hillary Clinton in November. Yet, it can also be said that the Republican rank-and-file still has some doubts as to his stances on abortion, gun rights and immigration.
Jeb Bush and John Kasich turned in their best debate performances, to date, as did Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee in the preliminary event. For all intents and purposes though, Jeb Bush and John Kasich are through, along with the J.V. squad, if either of these five fails to win, place or show in Iowa and New Hampshire. Rand Paul, who chose to abstain from attending the preliminary event, did not do himself any favors in his absence, despite the ten-second chant “We want Rand”, by a dozen of his supporters, when moderator Neil Cavuto was asking a question towards the end of the evening.
There has been much talk as to how Americans have shifted their views on the most important issue of this 2016 presidential campaign- a shift from the economy to ISIS/Islamic terrorism. While very much true, the central issue confronting Republican voters, is analyzing who is best suited to defeat Hillary Clinton in the fall election, and will doubtlessly be zeroing in on that particular question, when they go to the polls in Iowa, New Hampshire and the “Super Tuesday” elections and caucuses on March 1st. Unless the polling is very, very wrong, this race has largely come down to a three-man contest between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. The only thing left, is the actual polling to take place in those states- in the final analysis, regardless of posturing, those are the polls that really count.
-Drew Nickell, 15 January 2015
©2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.