Battle on for young and old as Democrats debate
Joe Biden, 76, went head to head with Pete Buttigieg, 37, as they argued who’d make a better leader.
The old and the young, the veteran and the rookie, the fading favourite and the rising star. Joe Biden, 76, and his 37-year-old rival Pete Buttigieg went head to head in the latest Democrat debate to argue why they had the kind of experience to lead the United States into a post-Donald Trump era.
There were ten Democrat presidential contenders on stage but this time it was the generational gap rather than the ideological gap between candidates that became a flashpoint in the latest Democrat debate in Atlanta.
In the past month the longtime frontrunner in the race, the former vice president Mr Biden has seen his lead in the early Democratic caucus voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire swallowed up by Mr Buttigieg, an articulate moderate gay mayor of a middle-sized town in the Midwest called South Bend.
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When Buttigieg was asked why a small town mayor could lead the US, he said America needed someone who knew how to solve real life problems working with neighbours rather than with the establishment in Washington.
“Washington experience is not the only experience that matters,” Mr Buttigieg said. “There is more than 100 years of Washington experience on this stage and where are we now?”
“I have the right experience to take on Donald Trump. I get it’s not traditional establishment Washington experience, but I would argue we need something very different right now.”
“If we are going to defeat this president we need someone who can go toe to toe who actually comes from the kinds of communities that he’s been appealing to,”
I don’t talk a big game about helping working class while helicoptering between golf courses,’ he said.
But Biden, a longtime Senator and two-term Vice President, countered that being president left no time for “on the job training.’’
“I have brought people together my entire career,” he said. “In the United States Senate I have passed more legislation than everyone this stage combined.
“We have to unify this country, I have done it repeatedly...to be Commander in Chief is no time for on the job training.
“I’ve spent more time in the time in the situation room, more time abroad, more time that anybody up here, I know every major world leader (and) they know me, they know what I stand for,’ Mr Biden said.
The debate between the ten candidates was a sometimes fiery affair, with lowly ranked candidates trying to find a way to capture the attention of the dwindling number of viewers watching this monthly debate.
Hawaii’s Tulsi Gabbard chose aggression, picking fights on stage with Mr Buttigieg and Kamala Harris, while Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar chose humour, joking about how money she raised for her campaign from ex-boyfriends.
As in previous debates, health care policies were a source of contention with both Mr Biden and Mr Buttigieg attacking fellow frontrunner Elizabeth Warren for her $US20.5 trillion Medicare for All Plan which would force all Americans off private health insurance.
“The vast majority of Democrats do not support medicare for all,” Mr Biden said, adding that such a sweeping plan would never be passed in Congress.
“We should build on Obamacare...and allow people to choose (their plan).’
Mr Buttigieg and Ms Klobuchar, both from the Midwest, said they had the ability to win the votes needed in that crucial region which switched to Mr Trump in 2016. Mr Buttigieg said be believed many Republicans in those states were ‘‘disgusted by what is happening in this country.’
Next month’s debate will further narrow the field of viable contenders with a tougher qualification rule meaning that only six of the current ten candidates have so far qualified to sell their presidential vision to prime time America.
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
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