Warren

In response to a question in Tuesday’s debate, Warren said: “I don’t think we should have troops in the Middle East. But we have to do it the right way, the smart way. . .  We need to get out, but we need to do this through a negotiated solution.”

Given the chaos, horror, and threat of genocide that Trump just unleashed on the region by green-lighting Turkey’s invasion of Syria, this was an altogether unsatisfactory answer.  We would have no leverage in negotiating a solution, such as Warren says we must, without having a credible military force to bring to bear against recalcitrant parties. Warren missed a chance to condemn Trump; instead, she tossed off the meaningless phrase, “the right way, the smart way,” without so much as a hint that she has any idea what that would be. No doubt, she would claim that she wasn’t allotted time to elaborate, but she could have at least said so, or given it a try. Her answer amounted to a brush-off of s critical issue. 

No one ever accused Warren of not being a hard worker. She has a lot of hard work still to do.