Opaque Lucidity

The Populist As Kingmaker

Last Monday's Democratic YouTube debate is still the source of much debate among the talking-head politicos in both the MSM and online. The Republican version, due to occur on September 17th, is likely to be a less breathy affair: Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani are skipping the debate. If I were a Republican running for office, I would, too.

There was a time when political debates were actually debates. In other words, two candidates would question one another on various topics in a sort of freeform style that went out with the arrival of televisions and spin managers. Most of our debates today, while heavily moderated, are still interesting affairs. They do not, however, allow for much in-depth analysis of any issue.

YouTube-based debates allow even less. First, there is no follow-up to any question. When Senator Obama answered a question by saying that he would gladly meet with a litany of third-world dictators, no one challenged him; the comment sailed through as if he had just extolled the virtues of moon pies and RC. In this way, debates such as this only serve to help those whose followers love five-second sound bytes and easy, vague solutions.

In other words, they only help Democrats.