After two nights of totally constructed and contrived CNN debates meant to demolish and divide progressives while refining and elevating centrists, its clear that the political landscape of the Left is changing.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The CNN debates could hardly have been more stacked against Bernie Sanders. They were totally orchestrated: the first night seemed intended to be a place for right-wing Democrats to undermine both Sanders and Warren and to instigate some fight between them, probably hoping for Warren to start to distinguish herself in a rightward direction from Bernie with the hopes of hiding from their attacks; and the second night seemed designed to give Kamala Harris and Joe Biden the space to fight our their disagreements, to create the appearance of a depth and diversity of actually serious plans, and to show that Joe still has the energy to assert himself in his old age, while also providing sound-bite fodder for the following days news cycle.

Unfortunately, none of that happened.

What did happen, however, was that Warren and Sanders stood united against an onslaught of right wing talking points from Democrats contrived to be onstage and given inordinate amounts of time for their 0% polling status's. From 'I wrote the damn bill!' to 'I don't know why anyone goes through the trouble of running for President just to tell people what they can't do and what ideas they can't fight for' there was no question all night where the energy, conviction, and moral authority lay. It was a clear and vivid display of the power of a true vision to unify, energize and overcome an onslaught of the tired-old talking points that have defined American Democratic politics since the 1980s.

On the second night, it went even worse. Not only was Joe Biden unable to defend himself from any and all attacks from right, center and left, but Kamala Harris also appeared completely compromised and undone by her recently released corporate 'Medicare for All' plan. Neither of them had anything of any substance to say and the contrived arguments between them on Medicare--which were apparently supposed to inform the public about their plans and give us an opportunity to weight them against each other--just seemed like they were taking place in another language and on another planet. So much so that it was Bill de Blasio that had the benefit of the comedic intervention with the 'I don't know what they're talking about'. It was true, they made no sense. Biden constantly looked like his jaw was at cross-purposes with his mouth, and that whatever was being beamed into his ear by advisors he was no longer able to fluidly translate onto the debate stage. He was halting, looked animated with no intelligence, just blustering his way through answers like an old, opinionated and obstinate man that often just ended abruptly, deflating immediately when cut by a moderator with an 'Anyway...' It was bizarre. And Kamala Harris, seemingly seeing the absurdity of her healthcare plan when it came under attack from the progressives on stage (Tulsi and de Blasio) seemed genuinely broken and on the verge of tears, subsequently for the rest of the night, unable to muster much of anything more than empty, barely articulate speach. It was as if the roles these people had spent their entire lives for, they were in the midst of failing to live up to them but still had to soldier on to the bitter end despite that all the words no longer had any meaning. It was, in all honesty, sad—a performance gone off the rails.

And so, as the debate ended with Joe Biden's call for people to head to 'joe-3-oh-3-3-oh-dot-com' it was clear that the two days had not lived up the spin. The second night lacked all energy, was a long and boring slog and, at the end of it all, we were left with a spin room demoralized and out of energy, only able to muster a few half-hearted attempts to put the best face on the night as possible (e.g., 'It wasn't the best, but it should be enough'), and to paper over what was obvious to anyone who had watched it: that it was all just a shit show.

So, by this morning there seemed to be an eerie calm descended on the political class and its punditry, one reflected in an interview Sanders did with Morning Joe not long ago. In what seemed like a phoned-in, work-from-home, hung-over series of teleconferenced rooms, the discussion took place simply, without embellishment. Just simple questions in a hushed tone devoid of flash-bang whizbam light and flicker. It seemed a sense of resignation hung in the air, a lack of motivation to once again take up the establishment mantle and throw it at the Senator.

And, then, it started to happen. A seemingly predictable corporate talking point about how much people love their private health insurance:

'You become President of the United States, January 21st, 2021, Medicare for All, you can't implement that in a single day. So a lot of people will have employer-based health policies, and they like those policies.'. But then, somehow, the question started to veer, not in the predictable, 'so people like their private plans, why would they want to give them up', what do you say to those people, but in a totally unexpected way: 'Let me tell you the problem I think a lot of people have with these policies: they are great, they give you a lot of comfort, when you read about the policy, until you check into a hospital, and then, and then, you walk into a casino when you're dealing with the pharmaceutical conglomerate. So, on your first day in office, forget about implementing Medicare for All, what can you do about the pharmaceutical lobby?'

'That's a very good question', said the Senator.

And it was.

And it seemed that, for a moment, the lobby had withdrawn its funding, the studio was on its last legs, lost the ability to pay for its glossy high-production value graphics and animations, the salaries of the hosts reduced to something reasonable that might make them mortal men of ordinary understandable concerns, and a real conversation had begun to took place. It was rupture in the scripting of the political, a cinematic moment—the four-years-ago unimaginable dream that it would ever one day become possible to address the 'radical' progressive left and all of its fringe, unworkable ideas with anything remotely resembling a deference to political authority, let alone the authority of a President of the United States. What would a President Sanders do to ensure FDA approval for the importation of drugs from Canada, to the way he saw the function of the senate, the filibuster, and primaries in getting his agenda enacted. It was an honest moment that, even if it only lasted or lasts for brief moment of disillusioned confusion of a mainstream cable new broadcast, should give us all pause in the progressive movement.

Change is in fact coming; it has already begun.