I get that the news out of the debate is that Joe Biden committed to picking a woman vice president. That’s a big deal. But there were a couple non-news things that were important too.
The first one is that Biden is not senile, does not have dementia, had no trouble in this debate uttering six or even seven sentences in a row that make sense, and handled himself fine. I suspect that any chance Bernie Sanders had to turn the tables in the way he was hoping ended in the first five minutes, by which time it was pretty clear that Biden was fully compos mentis and wasn’t going to start quoting Jack Benny routines to drive home his point.
This was really different from those early debates when he was ambushed from all sides. Then, he was verbally drowning half the time. Tonight, he was totally calm. He did maybe miss an opportunity to try to reach out to Sanders voters, but overall, he was in control of himself. It ought to make people feel more comfortable picturing him on a stage opposite Donald Trump.
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Effort to shore up economy is Federal Reserve’s most dramatic move since 2008
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| Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell during a news conference |
The Fed aimed to make borrowing as cheap as possible for U.S. households and businesses as the coronavirus brings the economy to a near-standstill.