Ice for that Bern

By Doria Kahn

The campaign stage has been ablaze over the past few months, and the Twitterverse has happily supplied extra fuel to the fire.

Before I get into the inter-candidate drama, I should probably start off by saying the role of social media, especially in the political sphere, will continue to grow complicated.

Facebook’s decision to not censor political ads with misinformation is drawing a lot of pushback. Many Democratic candidates are horrified as images and messages seen by the masses don’t have to be truthful or reputable. Any amount of money could be spent on said ads, and information need not be fact-checked. The company’s defense revolves around free speech. (Though, just saying, free speech and truthful speech should not be mutually exclusive.)

This summer, thousands of miles from home, I watched the Democratic debates religiously. I’ve always been an avid follower of politics and political trends, but my drive to constantly refresh my feed had several motivations. The first thing on my radar was social media. Amidst the endless commentary, memes, short snippets and GIFs out of context, I felt as if I was missing the Breaking Bad finale.

I must say that when I envisioned feuds on the campaign trail I only thought about the obvious tension between democratic-socialist Bernie Sanders and establishment-centrist politician Joe Biden. There was the obvious, of course: Trump would be criticized heavily and plans to steer the country anew would be hotly debated.

The first DNC beef I noticed was between Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Biden’s record on desegregated busing in the 1970s came up, and he seemed unwilling to fully apologize for his record on the issue. Instead, he hammered home his positive relationships with African American communities, much to the disapproval of Harris (and a host of others). Harris then shared her personal connection to the policy, using the now iconic phrase: “I was that little girl.” The attacks on Biden did not stop there, when Julian Castro, pointing out a seemingly contradictory statement, took a shot at Joe Biden’s memory. Attention to these two incidents has died down in recent months, as other candidates have many more burns that have yet to cool.

Warren faced allegations from the far-right Jacob Wohl, who accused her of paying for sexual services from a 24-year-old marine. Following this accusation, Warren posted about her affordable education at the University of Houston, with part of her caption reading “Go cougars!”

Interestingly, some attacks exist within the Democratic Party itself. For example, after Hillary Clinton accused Tulsi Gabbard of being a Russian prop, Gabbard clapped right back at HC, calling Hillary “the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party.”

These harsh words aside, overall party unity is struggling, but somewhat strong. For example, Joe Biden was not put to trial on the debate stage over accusations of his son Hunter’s alleged unethical/illegal behavior. Instead, he has been given an opportunity to defend himself and his family.

Criticism of Obama has waned in the last debate/town hall, probably because Obama, according to one poll, enjoys a 97% approval rating among democrats. However, the initial criticism comes from a real, evolving schism in the Democratic Party. President Obama was tough on immigration, despite his work on DACA, a fact that many candidates had no issues addressing.

Here’s the critical tension: the need to appear as a united front vs. differentiating the progressives from the centrists, and the old-timers from the fresh faces. I don’t know how to balance this among millennial voters, but I do think it’s important for every voter to ask themselves: how much is this election about defeating Donald Trump? How much is this election (and the heat that comes with it) about leading this country in a new direction? The balance of answers to those, albeit difficult, questions will separate the serious candidates from the ones that you watch for the memes.