We could, of course, think of the debate in terms of the time-honored definition of courtesy and regard for one another.

Given what the cameras showed us, all seven candidates were left wanting at one point or another. They talked over one another. When they got attention, they attacked, mostly the front-runners. Emotion was visible. A sense of urgency underpinned exchanges.

Amy Klobuchar touted her record in a measured manner. Elizabeth Warren differentiated herself from Sanders sharply and pressed Bloomberg pointedly on his abhorrent treatment of women. Bloomberg woodenly touted his successes, more or less acknowledging his buying power. In one exchange, Buttigieg determinedly matched Sanders’ bluster, as if to point it out. Sanders stuck to his talking points, even in response to questions that called for fresh thinking. Biden touted his Catholic upbringing for playing by debate rules, placing his faith in black voters. Steyer hung in there.

This was debate at its rawest—candidates frantically counterpunching others’ ideas at this crucial moment of political positioning. For what clarity emerged, courtesy was sacrificed.

I’m more concerned, though, with civility in a larger sense—as the embodiment of a full humanity that embraces a commitment to interdependence of all and to the common good.

President Trump has destroyed this traditional notion of civility as an indispensable human good, as an inclusive collective consciousness with an ethical and moral center.

So who best advanced this larger sense of civility? Their programs matter, very much so, but ultimately they are evoked in the person, as Trump so alarmingly teaches us.

Any one of them, as they say of one another, would be an improvement on Trump. So who in the end most embodies the full humanity so central to civility?

I eliminate Steyer because, humanity aside, he simply lacks the broad-spectrum credentials necessary for the job, earnest though he is.

Sanders, front-runner status notwithstanding, has a gruff persona and dogmatic behavior that seems to belie the common-good, interdependence-of-all ideology of his programs--as in his failure to release his medical records, in not answering questions posed, and not providing detail on how his hugely expensive programs get paid for. Opinionated as he is, his posture does not evoke presidential dignity nor the inclination to compromise.

Bloomberg, riding on his experience as mayor of NYC, offers a wooden response to criticism of his racially charged stop-and-frisk policies and of his demeaning treatment of women, when a heartfelt public remorseful apology and acknowledgement of the wrongness and inhumanity of his behavior would have begun a personal reckoning to balance the goodness that his money has wrought. His performance and demeanor conceal the humanity that may lurk in his soul.

Biden, affable and caring, touts the successes of long career riddled with mistakes, some of which he acknowledges. But he rides too much on the coattails of his Vice Presidency and shows too seldom the wisdom of his age. A humane spirit glimmers through but is there enough staying power to see through four hard years?

Buttigieg is hugely intelligent, reasonable, measured, fair, somehow restrained, perhaps because war and gender experiences are in his psyche, perhaps because he realizes the audacity of his confidence in believing he could be President with so little political experience, perhaps because his stature in the race is almost too good to be true. Has his young soul garnered the substantive wisdom of experience to repair the world’s greatest democracy?

Klobuchar has a convincing I-know-how-to-get-things done appeal, along with a centrist platform that acknowledges costs and benefits of sensible programs, a restrained humanity that has propelled her electoral and Senate successes, and a zingy sense of humor. Focus on accomplishments only, though, diminishes her common-good and interdependence-of-all sensibilities.

Warren’s comforting I-have-a-plan approach reveals a well-thought-out detailed platform that makes interdependence of all a reality and speaks to common good in that it so clearly addresses those most in need in our society. Her critical intelligence, wisdom, and big-picture mentality could remake America’s soul after its sordid encounter with the inhumanity of President Trump.

On the whole, I’m heartened.

I’m saddened, though the candidates that evoke the deepest sense of full humanity—I count Warren at the forefront, along with Klobuchar, Buttigieg and Biden--are not the front-runners.

If I send copies of my book, Creating A New Civility, to Bloomberg and Sanders, do you suppose they’ll read and take to heart its message of civility as a commitment to full humanity?