Gravitas and Depth

If the GOP debate (#2) indicated nothing else, it demonstrated that among the army of GOP candidates, there are serious people with serious ideas who want to be president. I don't agree with many of their positions, some are demagogues, others are unqualified, and a few are unrealistic or ill-informed, but in the main, there are at least six people who represent serious ideas and positions.

It's interesting that the DNC has yet to have a debate. Maybe that's because it would become very boring listening to Clinton, Sanders and O'Malley (where's Joe Biden?) talk endlessly about "income inequality," the "war on women," and ...

Hmmm. That's the problem, anything else that the Dems might discuss—healthcare, the economy, scandals,  jobs, the plight of the middle class, the debt, taxes, foreign policy, immigration, government dependency—becomes a minefield, given that the current Dem administration has created such a mess. Sure, they could create boogie men (e.g., "women's health") or rely on their tried and true class warfare memes, but at some point they're going to have to talk about things that truly do matter, and that's a serious problem for Dems. Oh yeah, there's also a little matter of Hillary's server, the consequent FBI investigation, and the willful destruction of evidence in a congressional investigation.

In the GOP debate, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio and Chris Christi all receive an A grade. All three addressed issues with substance and depth, had a firm grasp of the real (as opposed to imaginary) threats to our country, and exhibited a forceful and focused command of the issues.

Donald Trump? According to the post-debate polls, low information Trumkins gave him the "win," but I'm hopeful that his appeal will fade. Otherwise, we're looking at a candidacy that has an eerie and nightmarish similarity to the Obama candidacy in 2008—a candidate who talks in broad generalities and has little substance.

From a political perspective, the coming months will be interesting indeed. The GOP has good candidates who have gravitas and depth. I only hope that they don't chose a man with neither of those qualities.