By: Cynthia Shaffer
I knew it was going to be a long night when CNN, during the pre-debate commentary, cut the camera away from the pundit, who was in mid-sentence, to pan in on The Donald’s vehicle driving up and the man of the hour (well, actually, three hours) exiting said vehicle. Was this CNN or Access Hollywood? All that was missing was the literal red carpet. My god. Even CNN couldn’t manage to tear themselves away from the larger than life, rock star caliber of Donald Trump.
I knew it was going to be an even longer night when it became apparent the questions were not going to be policy-driven, rather they were designed to pit the candidates not only against Mr. Trump, the clear front-runner, but also against each other. As the stage devolved into a whining match amongst the field of contenders who aspire to be Commander-In-Chief, all the while I kept thinking, “The only debate I want to see is one between Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton.”
It was obvious each candidate was scrappin’ to separate himself/herself from the GOP pack of 15. While they all were able to bring some kind of specific policy idea or core principle to the table, I do not believe any of it swayed voters one way or the other- except possibly for Chris Christy and Carly Fiorina.
Christy clinched some much needed attention by using his introduction time to focus on the audience…the people. He requested that the cameras be taken off of him, put on the audience and he asked, “…how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today’s Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you’ve had?” I didn’t see one raised hand. It was a highly effective illustration of just how depressed and discontent the people are with the state of the Union. From then on Christy was purposeful to continually take the focus off of himself and put it back on the people. Particularly, he keyed in on the people who are playing by the rules, but are not reaping the rewards of hard work and honesty. He leaned on a law and order, leveling the playing field approach. His US Attorney litigation skills brought it home for him.
While Christy had one moment, Fiorina, had two memorable moments which upped her sway capital for GOP primary voters. She has a definite command and control presence which perfectly squared her toe-to-toe with Trump. She was the only contender in the second heat to be so specific regarding her take on what to do with Iran (Lindsey Graham was the only contender in the first heat to be specific) and make the case for the intrinsic value of life by blasting our nation’s response to the Planned Parenthood videos. She was direct, a matter-of-a-fact, and flawless in her delivery.
My personal favorite was Fiorina’s answer to the question, “What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill?” She replied, “I wouldn’t change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it’s a gesture. I don’t think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses.” Her explanation is the ultimate concept of equality. It’s not about being a token. It’s about being thought of and treated in-kind in both the good and the bad. She is the antithesis to how Hillary Clinton views women. Yeah. The only debate I want to see is one between Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton.
