Free the Debates!
| Wed Oct. 15, 2008 1:48 PM PDT
What do Arianna Huffington, the founders of Craigslist and Wikipedia, Kos, the big wigs of MoveOn.org, the co-founder of RedState.org, and a number of internet pioneers all have in common? They are all part of something call the Open Debate Coalition, a group of folks left, right, and center who want to see the presidential debates and the commission that organizes them fundamentally reformed.
The Open Debate Coalition has three primary objectives: (1) Make raw footage of the debates part of the public domain, so that journalists, bloggers, and citizens can access it without concerns about a major network slamming them with a copyright suit. (2) Allow citizens to vote for questions in advance using the internet, so that town halls aren't conducted at the whim of a moderator. And (3) reform or replace the Commission on Presidential Debates, a group which declines to make information on its funders public and has not released the debate rules to which both presidential campaigns have reportedly agreed.
This is not a commission that holds itself to iron-clad ethics rules. Anheuser-Busch has sponsored the presidential debates in every cycle since 1996 — as a result, its hometown, St. Louis, has hosted at least one debate in all but one of the last five presidential elections. Reports the Center for Public Integrity, "For its $550,000 contribution in 2000, the beer company was permitted to distribute pamphlets against taxes on beer at the event."
While seeking sunlight is never easy, the Open Debate Coalition would be excused for thinking they have an ace up their sleeve: the support of presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain. Both candidates have written letters (here's Obama's; here's McCain's) expressing support for the coalition's ideals.
So far, no luck. But the members of the coalition aren't giving up — they see a future where debates bear no resemblance to the ones we have today, which, should anyone need reminding, are essentially identical to the ones held between presidential candidates 25 years ago. "2008 will likely be the last year that the Commission on Presidential Debates will exist as we know it," Adam Green, Director of Strategic Campaigns for MoveOn.org Political Action, told me. "In the future, voters will demand interactions with the candidates that are democratic, transparent, and accountable to the public."
Or, as Andrew Rasiej, founder of Personal Democracy Forum, told the Washington Post: "Hopefully, comparing the 2012 debates to those of 2008 will be like comparing a 5th generation iPhone to a bullhorn."
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Comments
The solution seems very easy here IF the 2 candidates will cooperate. Obama and McCain wrote letters that they both wanted a more open format? Fine. All they have to do is withhold their presence until those conditions are met. All they have to do is say, 'We won't show up onstage unless conditions are as we want them.'. What is the commission going to do? Have a debate between two guys off the street?
Of all the election problems that need to be solved, this seems to be one of the easiest. The candidates have ultimate control over the situation because they don't need the commission. But the commission is nothing without the candidates.
Tom
I'm with Sam.
The debates will not have been "Freed" until they include every viable candidate, and that could be defined as any candidate who will appear on enough state ballots to take the electoral college vote, assuming they win those states.
Mother Jones looks like just another MSM outlet when it talks about "Free the Debates" and then turns around and talks about "both" candidates.
Restricted debates, with the political viewpoints on display confined to only two (which will differ on critical issues hardly at all, assuming they begin to speak to truly critical issues), willfully shutting out all others that exist could never be defined as "Free Debates", as far as this voter is concerned.
What I find most troubling about Debates is their contentious nature with the emphasis on winning and losing. Inevitably, the winner emerges wounded and scarred and the loser is thrown on the political trash heap. We are wasting resources and driving away the really smart people that refuse to play this stupid game.
The issues challenging us threaten our survival as a nation, even our survival as a species. Elections are neither an athletic contest nor a beauty contest to win or lose. We are faced with problems that need to be solved if we are to survive.
As an engineer, I work with many others to solve problems. I do not debate. I do not attack. I try my best to act like an adult accepting the fact that others know things I don't know. Is it too much to ask that our political leaders do the same? I am a lifelong independent, disgusted by partisan politics whether Democrat, Republican or any other party.
With that in mind, give me a Team with a Facilitator instead of a Debate with a Moderator. The issues should be framed by the candidates themselves and dynamically prioritized by public participation. I can assure you that a leader will emerge from such a cooperative effort; one always does. This is viable in the interactive world we are developing.
In the current election, whoever wins I will do my best to ensure their success; we will not survive their failure.
Barack Obama receives my vote because he most closely matches my expectations. I will settle for John McCain if he wins. No matter what, the winner will need and will receive my support.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts.
Joe Bachofen
Dream on if you think these decisions are left up to the candidates alone, or even at all. It may look like they're in control of their own campaigns, but it is each of the candidates' respective political parties that are making the major decisions about anything that might or might not get their candidate elected. That's why, at this point after a ridiculously long primary season, the candidates' don't stray from their party's prescribed message no matter what, therefore rendering how they perform in these "debates" very predictable and boring. I don't put any weight on anything politicians say while they're campaigning because they'll only say what they think will get them elected, and nothing more. It's fairly meaningless to even have the debates since we're only going to hear canned responses. And once one of them has been elected, any talk of "no new taxes" or whatever, flies out the window. We can't bail out the banks, fight 2 wars, fix our infrastructure and provide social security to all the baby boomers without taxes going up somewhere!
The presidential primary season should be no longer than 3 to 6 months, preferably 3 months. There are too many critical and urgent issues needing to be dealt with to be wasting all the time and money that we've wasted on this primary. Candidates who are members of Congress miss many or most of the votes they're supposed to participate in, sometimes causing a vote to be lost or won due to their absence. Plus, sometimes even the elected officials not running for office vote differently than they normally would during a campaign so as to not cause their party to lose the all-important election. It's almost as if the campaign has become more important than their time in office. Guess when the 2012 presidential campaign season officially begins............ March 2009!!!!! And you had better believe the Democratic Party will be coaching President Obama about his reelection in 2012 from day one, as if he needs to have his party's influence over every decision he makes. He will therefore be making critical decisions not based on what's best for the country, but based upon whether they will help him get reelected! This needs to stop!
Submitted by DemoPublicans, Every One (not verified) on Fri Oct. 17, 2008 7:37 PM PDT.
OligarchyNot: Well Said!
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