While everybody was busy on social media waging a war over who did better in the Democratic debate, I was in the middle of a caffeine-filled all-nighter for a group project that prevented me from watching the debate live. However, missing out on the initial viewing of the debate proved to be an advantage, as I was able to sit down and actually take my time watching the debate over the weekend. I did not have to bother live-tweeting it or looking out for others doing it. Instead, I could pause whenever I wanted without fear of missing anything. And this capacity for reflection allowed me to realize who the real winner of the debate was: Anderson Cooper and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the moderators.
The moderators proved to be a stark contrast to the previous Republican debate hosted by CNN’s Jake Tapper, wherein a single question could lead into a circus show of candidates attacking each other. This time around, Anderson Cooper was able to keep the candidates in order and relatively on point with the issues.
Cooper was able to do this with not only the lesser-known candidates on the stage, but also with the two frontrunners, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Through this harsh and prompt questioning, he almost kept everyone a little bit on edge, quickly asking a follow-up question before the candidates could just start rambling about policy points. Cooper was seeking to create a debate that actually focused on the issues and called out malarkey whenever it was present. The prime example would be the questioning of Lincoln Chafee about his vote for repealing the Glass-Steagall Act in the ‘90s. As Chafee began to shift his blame to him being new to Congress at the time of the vote, Cooper pressed him further by questioning if he was able to make his own decisions. It was one of the final nails in the Chafee campaign coffin.
Even Hillary Clinton, someone criticized for not getting ENOUGH media criticism against her views and opinions, was the first candidate Cooper confronted with questions. He questioned her political beliefs and asked whether she changes those beliefs on a whim to appease whatever group of people she is speaking with. Mind you, this was the very first question following the introductions from each of the candidates. Although Clinton was able to keep her own, she did not have an easy job doing it.
Bernie Sanders also felt the burn, as he too was asked tough questions about his policies and his self-proclaimed status as a socialist, something the majority of American voters still have uneasy feelings about. Some of his answers proved to be less than satisfactory during the debate. He will no doubt need to work on clarifying his policies and ideology for the next debate.
Any decent debate requires a lot of things to go right, but the most important may be the capacity of the moderators to not only do their jobs effectively, but also be critical on both sides of an issue. While this debate was only within one party, it still brought out many differences between the candidates in a civil and orderly fashion. Anderson Cooper and the rest of the CNN team could have thrown softball questions at these candidates, but they instead (rightfully) chose the harder route, trying to make sure the candidates answered honestly and accurately. In a time when political reporting and paparazzi circuses have become one and the same, that should be applauded.
Kevin Foster is a UF political science senior. His column appears on Thursdays.
