I have an informal rule about writing more than one post a day here at Vox-Nova, but since it now seems that tonight’s Presidential debate is going to happen after all, I thought I would break my rule and share my opinion of the Presidential debates in general.
I’m against them.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong in theory with the two main Presidential candidates going mano-a-mano on the great issues of the day. Lincoln/Douglas and all that. In practice, however, what we tend to get is candidates spouting off a series of soundbites, giving nonsponsive answers to stupid questions, with the “winner” being determined by such trivialities as how much a given candidate smirks, or sighs, or sweats. I remember after one of the debates in 2004, in which President Bush was much criticized for smirking while listening to Senator Kerry’s responses, listening to David Gergen talk about how Bill Clinton used to practice in front of a mirror the facial expressions he would use while listening to a debate opponent’s answers. Is this really the basis on which we want to choose the next President? For that matter, is this really how we want our President to be spending his time? (Considering the President in question, and his possible alternative activities, perhaps the answer to this is not so clear). Do we really want the choice of President to turn on which candidate choose to skimp on the pancake makeup before going on stage? (Considering that the candidate in question was Nixon, again, not so clear).
While a Presidential debate may sometimes be entertaining, it does not approximate very well the actual demands of the Presidency. Saddam Hussein may have proposed settling his differences with the United States via a televised debate with President Bush, but it’s not surprising that his proposal fell on deaf ears. The Republic somehow managed to survive without Presidential debates from the time of the Founding until 1960, and from 1964 to 1976, and I don’t think it would be threatened if we returned to this non-practice.
Unless, of course, McCain wins big tonight, in which case I take it all back.
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