The Debates: Mostly Good News.

I'm probably not alone in feeling that watching two two-hour, ten-candidate "debates" on consecutive nights was a bit much, but we all seem to have gotten through it. 

The DNC decided to stay with the dreadful mass-debate format, which means, really, that we don't get debates so much as something like an extremely nerdy class in high school where every student is trying to get the teacher's attention in order to score brownie points.

Since the ultimate winner of the Democratic debates, primaries, caucuses and conventions is going to have to take on the Current Occupant in one-on-one debates, wouldn't it have made more sense to start this process with something like a World Cup format?  By grouping the candidates in fours for round-robin, one-on-one debates - pre-recorded and released all at once - the DNC might have given us some idea how the contenders perform in the format that will actually matter in Fall, 2020.

But the DNC will do what it does.  As my old Dad would have said, "Those folks could f**k up a two-car funeral."  As long as the Republicans are the only alternative, we all have to live with that.

Aside from the format - and the masterful job done by NBC in trying to manage ten candidates with five moderators - the result of the two nights was surprisingly good.

First of all, people watched.  All sorts of numbers are flying around - and with so many means of live and delayed viewing available, it's hard to be sure - but clearly, many millions of Americans took time out on two midsummer nights to hear twenty candidates talking about an election which takes place in sixteen months.  That, in itself, argues a high level of interest and civic commitment.

And, despite the awkward format and the muddled moderation, what they got was two reasonably informative, largely civil, and surprisingly interesting evenings.

The civility owes much to the on-stage presence of two formidable women.  On Night One, Elizabeth Warren - the only top-tier candidate present - exercised a quiet command over the tendency of other candidates to engage in attention-seeking.  (Okay, with the occasional exception of de Blasio and Delaney, trying desperately from the opposite wings to generate some interest.)

On Night Two, Kamala Harris emerged as the Teacher, firmly calling the rest to order when things threatened to get out-of-hand.

It's easy to talk about leadership.  It's interesting when it shows up in the moment.  On their respective nights, Senators Warren and Harris showed the country something.

One great thing about the first-round debates was that they seem likely to have eliminated about two-thirds of the contenders.  I don't want to speak too soon.  This was one, two-part event, and we have a long way to go.  But I sense that the American people - those not still under the spell of the Orange One - want to narrow this field down quickly and unite behind a champion.

Pretty clearly, that has started to happen.  On Night Two, the campaign's two front-runners - both elderly white men - stumbled badly.  For Joe Biden, a combination of characteristic vagueness and a shrewd take-down by Senator Harris might well have marked the beginning of the end.

Biden has never been the right candidate for 2020.  Like George H. W. Bush in 1992, he seems to be running out of a sense of entitlement, but without any real passion or sense of mission.  His viability as a front-runner has been based on his high poll numbers among African-American voters - a crucial bloc within the Democratic coalition.  Kamala Harris just gave black voters a younger, more exciting, and much more relatable option.

Bernie Sanders did better than Old Joe, but it probably wasn't enough.  The thing we love about Bernie is that he never changes - which is a great thing in a tribune of the people, but not so great in a President.  No one since George Washington - for whom the job description in Article II was written - has entered the Presidency ready from Day One.  Presidents have to grow on-the-job.

Bernie, like King Lear's Kent, seems "too old to learn".  His faithful supporters will stick with him, but their numbers seem unlikely to grow much, either.  Bernie has done something wonderful for this country.  He has brought his ideas front-and-center and made it possible for serious progressives to aspire to a chance to govern.  But there are younger - or at least, younger-seeming - candidates ready to shape those ideas into laws, policies, and executive orders.  Bernie's time has probably come and gone.

At least half of the field will probably never have a time.  Most viewers came away wondering why some of them ever thought they might actually have a shot.  Indeed, some were so bad that they served as comic relief.  De Blasio, doing his best version of the loud New Yorker trying get his order taken at the deli without waiting for his number to be called.  Hickenlooper trying, without success, to string together a complete sentence.  Delaney channeling Les Nessman.  Marianne Moonbeam channeling Yoko Ono.

You have to wonder why some of these characters were in the debates, while two more legitimate contenders - named Seth and Bullock, for you Deadwood fans - were sidelined.

Whatever.  The sooner we all stop sending in dollars to the no-hopers - and unsubscribe from their email lists - the sooner they will get the message and drop out, leaving us with a smaller field.

And this is said with all due respect for those who - while they have no path to the White House in  2020 - might have better prospects in future.

There is other, useful work to be done in this cycle.  Removing the Current Occupant from the White House is vital - but equally so is removing Mitch McConnell, or at least reducing him to Minority Leader.

There are people in this race who should be running against incumbent Republican Senators - starting with Beto O'Rourke.  Others might, with a well-timed, full-throated endorsement of a more viable contender, earn themselves a seat in the next President's Cabinet.  Jay Inslee, for example, might do well at EPA - but not if he holds on too long.

Who knows, the next President might even create a new Cabinet office - to run, say, the Department of Oneness.  And offer it to... but let's be kind.

One final bit of good news:  For almost the past week, Americans - and millions around the world - have not been talking about the Current Occupant.  And that's vital.  His whole power comes from his ability to make himself the center of attention.  That's all he's got.

He's not that bright.  He's not that focused.  He knows almost nothing.  He has remarkably little energy or commitment to a job that demands an enormous amount of both.  All he has is the awareness that his name is constantly on everyone's lips.

When that stops happening, he starts to lose his power.  And probably, his mind.

The more we focus on the legitimate Democratic challengers, the better.