Presidential debates useless to voters

‘ ‘ ‘ Like a good little socially conscious American, everything my government professors ever… ‘ ‘ ‘ Like a good little socially conscious American, everything my government professors ever told me to be, I have been watching the presidential debates, or more accurately, presidential tantrums ‘mdash; because, frankly, they are a mess. Candidates have disregarded the time constraints, the topics and the moderators and instead used their time as an opportunity to rant about Senate records, earmarks and old pens. ‘ ‘ ‘ Never before have I seen debates this out of control and they have been completely useless to me as a voter. ‘ ‘ ‘ In the first debate, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain repeatedly talked over their allotted time, moved markedly off topic, interrupted each other and kicked around moderator Jim Lehrer like a broken Teddy bear. ‘ ‘ ‘ Oh, poor Jim Lehrer. No matter how many times he tried, he just could not get Obama and McCain to address each other (instead, McCain sassed back, ‘Are you afraid I couldn’t hear him?’). ‘ ‘ ‘ Repeatedly, Lehrer would try to refocus the debate back on topic, stridently at first and then increasingly less so, until by the end of the debate, like a man who had given up on living, he would concede to the senators with a meek ‘All right’ (e.g. Lehrer: ‘Senator Obama, you have a question for Senator McCain on that?’ Obama: ‘Well, let me just make a couple of points.’ Lehrer: ‘All right.’). ‘ ‘ ‘ The second presidential debate was less of a disaster, if only because of Tom Brokaw ‘mdash; thank goodness for Tom Brokaw. The man knows when to tell someone to shut the hell up, even if that someone happens to be a presidential candidate. He reminded the two candidates of the one-minute discussion policies eight separate times, several times mentioning that the candidates had signed off on these rules. But even the great Brokaw was no match in the end for McCain and Obama, who evidently interrupted him enough times to earn some extra time for follow-up questions toward the end of the debate. A bewildered Brokaw defensively added, ‘I’m just the hired help here.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Not only were the debates essentially un-moderated, the behavior of the candidates was generally rude. There was much grinding of teeth and smirking from both candidates, as well as at least one time where they refused to shake hands. I felt like I was seeing politics for the first time. Real politics, I mean ‘mdash; the nasty stuff people always told you went on, but that most politicians were smart or well-managed enough to hide. ‘ ‘ ‘ In the end, the debates failed on many levels, but most of all because the candidates did not address the most pivotal questions the American people want answered. ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s ironic that the debate should fail so miserably this year, because both Obama and McCain have been lauded for their dynamic speaking abilities, and the Commission on Presidential Debates assured everyone that its new format guidelines would make for the most ‘thoughtful and in-depth’ debates ever, according to a CPD press release. ‘ ‘ ‘ The goal of this new system, which, for the first time ever, allows for a free-flow discussion between the candidates, was to allow for the candidates, unhindered by strict time constraints, to discuss important policies in more detail. So far, however, these debates have brought us more mudslinging and rhetoric than ever, and it’s possible it’s actually because of the new restrictions. ‘ ‘ ‘ What’s that old saying … you give ’em and inch, they take a mile? ‘ ‘ ‘ Though one could argue whether the moderators did a poor job or the candidates are just more aggressive this year, the CPD’s new system failed in its main purpose: to allow for more thorough discussions. ‘ ‘ ‘ Instead, the candidates used the ‘free-flowing discussion’ time to attack each other, and usually not even on relevant topics (earmarks, anyone?). ‘ ‘ ‘ CBS News’ Bob Schieffer will moderate the next debate. ‘ ‘ ‘ According to MSNBC, Schieffer means to keep the candidates in line, warning, ‘It will not embarrass me, if they go off in a different direction, to say, ‘excuse me, could you focus on the question that I just asked.” ‘ ‘ ‘ This debate will have the two candidates sit at the same table, close enough to touch each other. According to MSNBC, Schieffer hopes this ‘will encourage more interaction.’ This is pretty optimistic. ‘ ‘ ‘ I’m just hoping Schieffer can keep the two from scratching out each other’s tracheas. ‘ ‘ ‘ Debate Molly at mog4@pitt.edu.