Debates used to be a big thing in this country. In Lincoln’s day, the whole town would gather in the square for hours to listen to the candidates speak on the issues of the day. People back then obviously were either very passionate about politics or had no lives to speak of, because each speech would routinely go on for an hour. Yet the audiences for these debates got a glimpse of the candidates as they were. The verbal fireworks of the series of Illinois debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were legendary.
Now, it’s a five-second sound bite written up by a spin doctor in a vain attempt to keep the public from switching to a re-run of “Charlie’s Angels.” The Fox Network was so confident of a ratings windfall, they scheduled the two-hour premiere of their highly-hyped new series right against the Bush-Gore debates, which were showing on the other three major networks.
That is the sad state of both the electorate and the candidates: A public that can’t be bothered with judging who should run the country for the next four years and candidates so stage-managed and rehearsed, their heads would explode if they were sideswiped with an unexpected question.
During last month’s Rick Lazio-Hillary Clinton senatorial debate in Buffalo, N.Y., the most noteworthy things were the attacks. Hillary, in each of her rebuttals, wove in the irrelevant point that Lazio has served as Deputy Whip under Speaker Newt Gingrich. Lazio countered with almost-as-irrelevant allusions to President Bill Clinton’s sex scandal. He also won the prize for most visually stunning moment in the debate: Leaving his podium to confront Hillary with a paper pledge not to use “soft money” in her campaign. In short, debates are nothing but rehashes of political ads writ large.
Television has a large part to do with the declining stature of the debates. The fall of 1960 marked the first televised debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Almost immediately, it was their looks that counted, rather than their policies. Kennedy’s youthful looks and ease in front of the camera were in sharp contrast to Nixon’s sweaty and pallid visage.
Ronald Reagan, the movie-star-turned-politician, was a master of the “new” debate. We all remember his quips on camera: “I know my opponent has been turning age into an issue. I just want to say that I’ll try not to use his youth and inexperience against him.” And “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” are just two of his famous quotes from debates. The Great Communicator did much to turn debating from a contest of ideas into a political MTV — style over substance. Just as video killed the radio star, television killed the rational debate.
TV has some of the blame. However, they’re no longer dealing with people coming to a town square of their own free will: Candidates have to compete with a cornucopia of other choices. They want to get their message out to the largest number of people. And that means speaking to the lowest common denominator to prevent them from clicking channels.