I'm glad that these videos were posted, so I could get a chance to hear and see all the Democratic candidates for president in 2016. Martin O'Malley comes first in this posting, even though his appearance was not first, according to the alphabetical order that the candidates were presented in, so I'd wager that the person who posted this supports Martin O'Malley.
My personal preference in the Democratic field is for Senator Bernie Sanders, and it seemed like he was just repeating his usual campaign rhetoric and talking points, so I stopped about midway through his video, and went on to the others.
Jim Webb was an unknown candidate for me, but nevertheless, although he was generally not as passionate and inspiring as Bernie Sanders, when he got going and opened up, he surprised me with some of his brilliant and original thinking as to how he was going to solve some of America's top problems. In short, he struck me as a brainy policy wonk with bright ideas. And it was interesting how he kept on referring to Bernie Sanders - almost makes one think that he would accept the offer of being Bernie's Veep. And that might be a real good match, because Bernie is strong and bold on the passionate ideas and the urgency of now, and has good leadership qualities, but Senator Webb might complement Bernie in implementing the details.
My impression of Lincoln Chaffey was that he was rather weak and obsequious, and did not exhibit strong leadership qualities. His main concern was to be liked or accepted - and he didn't even use up all the time allotted to him to explain what he would do for the country - other than the long laundry list of causes that he has supported, without detailing any of his accomplishments in any one of them. I seriously wondered why he squandered such a golden opportunity - unless he really didn't have that much to say.
Martin O'Malley also made a strong showing, and is definitely an eloquent, passionate speaker. And he seems to have strong progressive values and convictions - but hey, every Democratic candidate is talking that way these days. He made some interesting observations and presentations of facts on the problems America was facing, but seemed to be short on the details of what he would do as president. Neverthelss, O'Malley would be my second choice for president, after Bernie Sanders.
And as for Hillary Clinton, I know where her campaign donations are coming from, so my reaction to her was understandably cynical and jaded, especially when she talked about reining in Wall Street. And of course, not a word on the critical litmus test issues such as the TPP or reinstating Glass-Stiegal. It was clear that Hillary considered herself to be the presumptive Democratic nominee, in that she was the most explicit and vociferous candidate in her condemnation of her various Republican rivals - and yeah, if it came down to Hillary versus any one of them, I'd vote for Hillary in a heartbeat. And that strategy of stepping into the Democrat heir apparent role to go out on the offensive against the Republicans might very well be a winning strategy for her.
So, in closing, my rough ranking of the Democratic candidates from top to bottom, would be: Sanders, O'Malley, Webb, Clinton and Chaffey.
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