Elizabeth Warren shone in the first Democratic debate – partly because a lot of her opponents acted downright strange

‘Healthcare isn’t just a human right, it’s an American right’ is a sentence none of us should have had to hear

It was a debate that Elizabeth Warren was expected to walk, and so she ran. Pitted against what one might uncharitably call the least exciting candidates – Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Bill de Blasio, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Tim Ryan and Beto “just born to be in it, or at least maybe born to serve people or something” O’Rourke – Warren was extremely policy-specific, showing up her counterparts’ reliance on rhetoric. Anyone can say they want to serve Americans, make the US a more progressive place, and help people get access to basic healthcare. Not everyone can outline a green energy plan, with numbers, in 30 seconds; or explain why big pharma doesn’t want to take responsibility for the opioid crisis in the same amount of time.

Time and again, she found the right words and her opponents lost or mangled them. “There’s a lot of politicians who will say [Medicare-for-All] isn’t possible. What they mean is they won’t fight for it. Because healthcare is a basic human right,” Warren proclaimed. “Healthcare isn’t just a human right, it’s an American right,” Cory Booker said in turn – seemingly taking patriotism to whole new levels by elevating Americans to a superior species above the rest of humanity.

Warren wasn’t just the most politically interesting tonight; she also inspired the best memes on social media. When she was asked by the hosts if she had a plan for how to deal with Mitch McConnell, she answered, “I do,” with such determination that she drew loud cheers from the crowd. Twitter exploded with Game of Thrones references, Rihanna jokes, and images of Warren’s head superimposed on various pop culture heroes. She may have been disappointed to be chosen for the first night of Democratic debates instead of the second, which is teeming with higher-polling candidates (NBC allocated the slots randomly), but tonight did give her the opportunity to shine – and to create a hell of a lot of internet-friendly soundbites.

The only other Wednesday night candidate who delighted Twitter as much as Warren was Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who must have mentioned that she signed up to the National Guard on the day after 9/11 about 911 times. There was a point at which she was shouting “al-Qaeda” over a few candidates trying to muscle in on her time. Gabbard wanted to make clear that she’s standing as the anti-war candidate, because she’s been to war a lot of times and she’s seen firsthand and realised that it, in fact, is bad. It does make you wonder what she was expecting when she signed up, but kudos to her for being a US veteran brave enough to speak critically about what she’s seen. Her story about growing up in a socially conservative family and holding views she “doesn’t hold any more” when she was younger was also a refreshing anecdote about personal change in an age when political opponents all too often drag up old tweets for bloodsport.

Undoubtedly the biggest disappointment of tonight’s debate was Beto O’Rourke. Despite having clearly prepared some rhetorical flourishes and strategies – he spoke in Spanish at the beginning of every answer before switching to English, in case you didn’t know by now that he’s bilingual – he floundered. Almost every answer was a bland repetition of politico-speak or a rehash of what the candidate before him had just said. He did get a (well-deserved) cheer for being the first to bring up women’s reproductive rights, which he promised to protect; unfortunately, this particular triumph ended up coming back to bite him when Julian Castro (“I believe in reproductive justice”) and Jay Inslee leapt straight onto the bandwagon as well, only for Amy Klobuchar to sardonically cut in that “three women up here actually have fought pretty hard for a woman’s right to choose.” Similar identity one-upmanships happened when Bill de Blasio talked about the hardships of bringing up a black son while standing on a stage next to Cory Booker, and when Beto repeatedly showcased his knowledge of Latinx issues while attempting to talk over Julian Castro.

The most obvious part where Warren floundered was after the question about gun control; she spoke around it rather than answering the question directly, saying that a responsible collector was very different from a person with malicious intent. She was, for once in the debate, shown up by Beto O’Rourke, who was the only one brave enough to outline a proper plan: universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons which, in his words, “belong on the battlefield”. He named names of gun activists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman killed 17 people last year and said that we should be led by young people. Amy Klobuchar jumped in to agree, somewhat bizarrely comparing the issue to gay marriage as she did.

In closing, pretty much every candidate made an unexciting, pre-prepared statement about how “this is our moment” (some of the enthusiasm no doubt dampened by Tim Ryan’s oddly placed rant about the Democratic Party and how it’s “become the party of elites”, which was presumably intended to seem blisteringly honest and populist but instead felt like a big fat gift to Donald Trump.) Warren spoke of not being able to afford education because of her working-class background and eventually attending a cheap community college. Bill de Blasio, the standout from the closing statements, did an impressive summary of his achievements as New York mayor, including introducing the $15 (£12) minimum wage and free pre-K childcare for all. It probably won’t be enough to propel him above Liz “yes, I do” Warren, though. This was her night and, by the looks on most of her peers’ faces as the mics cut out and the music started to play, everybody knew it.