I watched the speeches from all 5 candidates, and all I can say is WOW.  My thoughts regarding each one.

 

Lincoln Chafee - Pretty un-inspiring and echoed the the usual democrat talking points.  At least he did outline some of his experience and qualifications.

 

Hillary Clinton - Very robotic and very much "playing politics".  She didn't have a whole lot to say other than talk about herself and criticize republicans.  I found it kind of amusing that she is trying to give a similar message that Marco Rubio has been talking about, that being the need to think about the future and that old ideas from the past are not what is needed.  The funny thing is she never offered any solutions, and she didn't outline any of her past "accomplishments" (or lack thereof).

 

Martin O'Malley - Very well spoken, almost sounds like a preacher.  He did outline some of his experience and qualifications, and he does put forth a couple of "solutions", but I very much disagree with much of what he had to say.  He's more-or-less a young Bernie Sanders.

 

Bernie Sanders - He was clearly the "star" of the stage.  As I've pointed out in other threads, he sounds to me like an angry old man.  I admit that he does identify some of the problems facing us, but I strongly disagree with him on pretty much every point.  As an example, he wants "free" college tuition for all and is very much a wealth redistribution advocate.  He very much lives up to being a socialist when he advocates a single payer health care system.

 

Jim Webb - Probably the most boring to listen to, but yet he seemed to be the most reasonable of the bunch.

 

I would encourage everyone interested in politics, both on the left and the right to watch their speeches.  The video linked below is 1:51:47 long, but you can skip much of it to get to the actual speeches.  I don't think that any one candidate spoke for more than about 20 minutes.

 

Video from CSPAN

 

This is the best that the democrats have to offer.  How anyone can really support any of these candidates is beyond me.

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