Debate Over Debates
I’ll put my opinion on the table from the start—there will be no presidential debates this year. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; actually, I think debates under the current framework and administration are worthless.
But both the presumptive major party nominees are playing a public game on the topic. Joe Biden has said he’ll debate Donald Trump, depending on Trump’s behavior during the campaign. Trump wants more debates, and sooner, than the presidential commission on such things has planned.
Cynically, I’d say neither really wants to debate, and those public statements—which continue to change depending on which way the wind is blowing—are laying the foundation for it.
Biden floated the “depends on Trump’s behavior” line to set the stage for saying Trump’s behavior would make a mockery of the proceedings and it’s beneath him as president to lower himself to that level. Trump could decline to participate in the scheduled debates starting in September because by the time those debates are all held, millions will have already cast ballots so they are worthless on that timetable.
The Presidential Commission on Debates was set up to be a bipartisan, neutral arbiter of such things and remove politics and influence from the process; but like all things these days, it’s strayed far from that mission.
And this debate-over-debates is a preview of what would happen if we had an actual debate—no discussion of issues, just talking points and targeted snipes at the other person. Good riddance to them…and to this wasteful discussion about them.
