Democratic debate: America needed leadership from Biden and Sanders. Instead, it got the same old politics

Analysis: Amid exceptional circumstances of coronavirus outbreak, writes Andrew Buncombe, this felt like the same old bickering and arguments

Missing the point: Sunday’s Democratic debate proved to be nothing more than a spat (Getty)

When they walked to the podium and smilingly touched elbows, obeying the best coronavirus safety protocol, one wondered if this was going to be it.

Would this be the evening that a nation, and indeed the world, anxious and traumatised by how Covid-19 has so utterly turned everything upside down, was comforted by statesmanlike leadership?

Would this be the occasion when two politicians reached beyond easy blows and jabs, and filled the need for a comforter-in-chief Donald Trump has so stunningly failed to be?

In a word, no. It was not.

The debate between Biden and Sanders was many things. An evening when everything was, at least fleetingly, made to feel better was not one of them.

This may very well be the final debate of the 2020 primary season if Biden on Tuesday cements his frontrunner status with wins in Florida, Ohio, Illinois and Arizona.

If he does, it may be that Sanders accepts he has no route to the nomination, and that as happened four years ago, his dream of reaching the White House and setting in motion the kind of changes he so passionately feels are necessary, is no more than a dream. Almost certainly, this is Bernie Sanders’ last run for the Oval Office.

That may have been why this Sunday night debate in Washington DC, broadcast without a live audience as part of the safety protocols, at times felt so bitter and unpleasant.

It may have been why, for so much of the evening, the two men appeared to bicker and argue.

From the outset it was said the debate would be overshadowed by the coronavirus crisis, that has killed at least 62 Americans and infected more than 3,300.

And it was. Yet, despite all of that it remained at its essence a fight between the last two contenders for the nomination. Tulsi Gabbard is still officially contesting but it is hard to see her become anything other than a footnote to proceedings at this point.

There is a real danger in Biden and Sanders allowing things to get unpleasant between them, as it is likely both are going to end up needing one another in the months ahead.

For his part, Biden, who was surprisingly energised on Sunday night, is going to need the backing of Sanders and the votes of his supporters, if he becomes the nominee and gets to take on Trump.

Meanwhile, assuming Biden makes it into the White House, then Sanders is going to require his support and championing of any major policy proposal he hopes to wring out of the former vice president for dropping out of the race.

Sunday night might have been a chance to reveal to the nation that in exceptional circumstances, leaders know how to work together.

As it was, it all felt too much like politics as usual. What a pity.