The debate debacle

Has America really become this small minded and easily distracted?   For those of us who are still patient enough to be following the Democratic primary and debates, it has become extremely frustrating because the focus of the debates has deteriorated.  Debate after debate is watched with the hope that “the next one will be better.” But the truth is, they aren’t getting better, in fact, they are getting much worse. 

America tunes in to hear the answers to tough questions about the important issues such as the Iraq war, health care, social security, and the economy.  Instead, the candidates are simply drilled with the same petty questions about people they once knew that made unpatriotic remarks, or exaggerations of incurring sniper fire in Iraq.  My point is not that these things are totally irrelevant, but simply that these should not be the focus of America’s interest at this critical juncture.

We are in a war that Senator John McCain has sworn to continue if he becomes president.  Our national debt is now over nine trillion dollars.  Our social security fund is predicted to run dry in the next several decades.  Inflation is soaring.  The federal government has yet to deal with the immigration problem.  Gas prices are at an all-time high.  We as a country are in dire straights in many areas and the only questions we can pose to our next presidential candidates are based primarily on petty gossip.  We, as voters, need to know that the candidates have a plan for what they are going to do to ameliorate our current situation. Instead we are mostly witnessing a popularity contest that includes a lot of superficial name calling. 

A huge responsibility is placed on the moderators of the debates.  In the earlier debates the public was well served by the moderators’ questions which prompted dialogue on the important issues.  However, recently, the questions posed are simply embarrassing and no longer address the important issues.  On the rare occasion that a legitimate question is asked, there is almost never a follow up question.  Without a follow up question the candidates are able to gloss over their positions and never get deeper than the face value of their views.     

If it’s not bad enough that the moderators of these debates will not ask the pressing questions, the candidates themselves have begun to nit pick at one another on sound bites taken out of context.  Obama has actually been accused of giving Clinton the finger for simply scratching his face.  Never before have the Democratic presidential candidates gotten this caught up in negative gossip nor this distracted from the real and pressing issues at hand.

There is, however, one benefit from all of this gossip and bickering.  Once a Democratic candidate is chosen and begins campaigning against John McCain, there will be nothing for him to bring up that has not already been brought up and analyzed.  The Democratic nominees are leaving no stone unturned in their epic battle of misconstrued insignificant facts.

So the question is posed, has America really become this caught up in the little things?  Has gossip become more important than ideas and strategies?
Eleanor Roosevelt put it well when she said, “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds, discuss people.” 

Its time the Democratic candidates pull it together and start acting like the presidents they hope to be.


    Jonahwill@aol.com