The first hour of the Democrat debate is over, and judging by performance, no one wants to win the primary. They all think they have jumped straight into the general election.

How can you tell? They’re all busy ripping on Donald Trump – which is fine, as the opening questions were all about impeachment – instead of trying to beat each other up. Each candidate is daintily dancing around each other’s policies, and instead of confronting their primary challenger directly, they’re just passive aggressively saying “well, this might be the wrong way to do things, I dunno, vote for me.”

The best (worst?) example of this was Cory Booker talking about Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax, without actually going after her. Elizabeth Warren is worth $12 million and she is the wealthiest person on that stage other than billionaire Tom Steyer! Why is Cory Booker not beating her over the head with this? What the hell, Spartacus?

And, in a particularly spirited moment, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker directly took on Warren’s proposed wealth tax, saying it would be ineffective as a means of funding her Medicare-for-all plan, along with her proposals to provide free college tuition and erasing student loan debt.”

Democrats need to be focused on growing wealth, Booker said, not simply taxing it. Republicans have asserted that, even if all billionaires were somehow taxed out of existence without causing any capital markets distortion, the resulting revenues in the best case scenario would barely pay for three years of Medicare-for-all. (The world’s 2,150 billionaires have an approximate combined net worth of $8.7 trillion, and the progressive Urban Institute has said that Medicare-for-all would cost on average $10.2 trillion for three years.)”

Booker never took Warren on directly. He wants all the same things she does, he just disagrees on how to get the money for it. It’s a lost opportunity for Spartacus. You won’t win a primary that way.

Tulsi Gabbard took the time to take a shot at Hillary Clinton, and then Kamala Harris decided to punch her for her Fox News appearances. Gabbard was willing to take her on.

Problem: this is a fight between the second-tier candidates, and it affects none of the front-runners. You won’t win a primary that way.

Joe Biden (we here send our congratulations to the Biden family on the new grandchild, and Hunter better get those child support payments caught up) did not get off to a strong start.

Joe’s first opportunity to speak this debate aaaaannddd he does this… pic.twitter.com/f2e2nboPcf

— Abigail Marone (@abigailmarone) November 21, 2019

The moderators (Andrea Mitchell and Rachel Maddow among them) keep asking Biden “what would you do differently than President Obama?” It’s a legitimate question, as Biden has pretty much superglued himself to the Obama legacy. But the problem is that Obama is neither on this stage or is currently the president! Biden is busy differentiating himself from Obama, and sounding like everyone else on the stage who is busy bashing Donald Trump. You won’t win a primary that way.

At this rate, I predict that this debate preserves the status quo. Warren continues to be the media darling, Buttigieg continues to gain in Iowa, Sanders continues to fade, Biden continues to plod along. They’re all busy bashing Donald Trump, but they have all forgotten that they have to run the primary gauntlet first. And at this rate, it’s not a battle of ideas between candidates – it’s a battle of attrition to see who runs out of money first. And by extension, that’s a contest of who has the deepest pockets or the richest donors. And if that’s all it is, then the Democrats have a problem, because whoever ends up with the nomination is going to be personally hammered by Donald Trump, with no idea of how to respond except “ORANGE MAN BAD” and “IMPEACHMENT.”

The Democrat primary race looks right now like a perfectly polite and proper square dance. Do they not realize that Trump is going to bring a disco ball and a jackhammer to the general debate stage?

Featured image via Pixabay, Pixabay license