Democrats, remember the most important person to beat in 2020 | The Washington Post

The failings and outrages of President Trump were curiously absent Wednesday from the first Democratic presidential debate. Beto O’Rourke...

Written by Eugene Robinson

Jun 30 ·

The failings and outrages of President Trump were curiously absent Wednesday from the first Democratic presidential debate. Beto O’Rourke had a bad night, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren had a good night, and Julián Castro had a great night. But nobody scored a definitive victory, and nobody ended the evening sprawled on the canvas.

O’Rourke was staggered, though. The most heated exchange came when his fellow Texan, former housing and urban development secretary Castro, snapped that O’Rourke “should do your homework” on the intricacies of immigration policy. O’Rourke seemed flustered. He clearly had a plan coming into the debate — early on, in the middle of his first answer, he surprised everyone by breaking into Spanish — but direct confrontation seemed to take him out of his comfort zone.

[Featured Image: President Trump ahead of his departure for the G-20. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)]

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Written by Eugene Robinson

Eugene Robinson writes a twice-a-week column on politics and culture and hosts a weekly online chat with readers (The Washington Post). In a three-decade career at The Washington Post, Robinson has been city hall reporter, city editor, foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires and London, foreign editor, and assistant managing editor in charge of the paper’s Style section. He started writing a column for the Op-Ed page in 2005. In 2009, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for “his eloquent columns on the 2008 presidential campaign that focus on the election of the first African-American president, showcasing graceful writing and grasp of the larger historic picture.” Robinson is the author of “Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America” (2010), “Last Dance in Havana” (2004), and “Coal to Cream: A Black Man’s Journey Beyond Color to an Affirmation of Race” (1999). He lives with his wife and two sons in Arlington. [The Wriit-created profile was established to offer the proper attribution & credit for the featured Writer. The profile was created by Wriit and does not reflect the Writer’s association with the publication, and may be updated (claimed) by the Writer upon request.] Profile