That was the consensus of how Sean Barney came across in yesterday’s debate. Perhaps it is the lisp he has, or his youthful choice of adjectives, but, when stacked next to the current treasurer, Barney comes across the weaker choice.

The debate pitted idealism against reality. As a child intent on making the world a better place, the idealism of Barney became too much as the hour progressed. Far too often he was tripped up by Flowers on specifics of the office that in our circle are common knowledge, but apparently Barney didn’t know.

As one sometimes feels sorry when two football teams are extremely mismatched, one feels the same for Barney.

After all, several external events recently undercut Barney’s campaign.

One: The treasurer was honored by the auditors report for being squeaky clean and honest. Unlike Markell (Barney’s old boss) Chip Flowers had no dings on his reporting of finances…

Two: Flowers acted promptly and properly over his deputy’s transgressions. There is no crime in being vicitmized and Barney lost points in trying to tie Flowers to the action of his deputy. Flowers responded to the problem, and currently now, for any future treasurer, it cannot happen again.

Three: Jack Markell’s and Tom Carper’s reputation are the kiss of death. It was ironical for Barney to accuse Flowers of travel violations when Barney’s own boss was accused of the very same, and unlike Flowers, has done nothing to resolve it… Markell had a low level staffer simply brush it off.

Four: The economy of Delaware is not booming. Problems outnumber successes. The Markell Administration is under fire for Fisker, Bloom, TDC, gutting the Coastal Zone Act, Common Core, Smarter Balanced Assessments, a diminishing economy, loss of revenue, casinos going bust, Charter Schools failing, so Barney’s advertising that he was Markell’s POLICY DIRECTOR, is nothing short of an albitross hung around his neck.

Five: It borders incredulous that Barney was unfamiliar with Dave Marvin’s malefeasance as member of the Cash Management Board, and that the single person leading the charge against Chip Flowers, was fined for being dishonest to his investors, and lying and cheating in his disclosures as required by law. Basically Sean Barney was unfamiliar with this man. This completely undercuts Barney’s argument that Chip is flawed because he can’t get “crooks” to like him. That exchange was incredulous to listen to.

Six: Complaining that Flowers was incompetent because he couldn’t get his legislation passed by Markell’s flackeys, was turned on its ear by Allan Loudell who immediately brought up that Markell couldn’t get his 10 cents a gallon passed, barely got his Smarter Balance Assessments passed (had to bribe Greg Lavelle with a spot on Chuck Todd), barely got gun legislation passed, failed to get Flower’s sanctioned last year. If not getting legislation passed is a crime, then Barney’s own boss was guilty of far more…

Seven: After a full hour, one gets an overall sense, that if you want the Delaware way to continue, where a few dictate things behind the scenes and there is no way one can contest or derail it, then Sean Barney is the way to go. One senses that he will not do anything without getting his bosses approval first. “I’ll have to ask the boss.” On the other hand if one feels the elite have run Delaware into the ground, and think a new direction is necessary, one which will improve economic possibilities for all Delawareans not making over $10 million a month, Chip Flowers should be the Democrats choice on the General Election ticket…

It depends who you are, on which one you should vote for. If you are a Greenville elitist, I doubt that you will be happy with Chip Flowers. Heck, if you are one of them, I doubt that you will be happy with anyone. Which in turn, would be good for Delaware….