Tonight the final leg of the 2012 presidential race kicks into gear with the first general election presidential debate. This will be the first time that voters get the chance to see President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney together on the same stage answering questions and, undoubtedly, taking semi-personal shots at each other.
This is the first of three scheduled presidential debates to take place over the next month, with each one set to focus primarily on one topic. Tonight’s debate topic is domestic policy.
Presidential debates usually happen later in the electoral process and traditionally mark the “home stretch” of an election, which is good news for anyone who is tired of seeing the long strings of political ads on TV.
Candidate debates are not specified in the Constitution or elsewhere, but they have been a staple of the presidential process for about 50 years.
In 1960 the first televised presidential debate, between Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat John Kennedy, was highly credited for helping Kennedy to show the contrast between himself and Nixon, and propelling him to the presidency.
Kennedy appeared to be calm, collected and at ease before the camera, while Nixon was sweaty and looked very nervous. The backstory that we now know in 2012, but was unknown at the time, was that Nixon refused to wear makeup for the cameras while Kennedy opted to wear it, which kept him looking cool and dry and left Nixon looking like a seventh-grader who had just been caught cheating on a test.
This marks the first time in our presidential politics that a presidential debate became a major factor in people’s perceptions of the candidates. People in politics blamed this debate for Nixon’s defeat so much that another televised presidential debate did not happen until 1976.
Since then the presidential debates have been the setting for some of their respective elections most determinative moments. One-liners and a candidate’s body language during the debates have often gone down in infamy as revealing more about a candidate to their electorate than commercials or endorsements ever could.
In 1992, when Bill Clinton debated then President George H.W. Bush, Bush kept looking at his watch during the debate (like he would rather have been anywhere else in the world). When this was pointed out later by the press, it seemed to affect the way people looked at Bush, and he ultimately lost the election to Clinton.
Similarly in 2000, when Vice President Al Gore debated Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Gore sighed repeatedly during Bush’s answers. This made Gore look petty and thus made Bush look strong in comparison, and of course Bush won the presidency — though with the help of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Presidential debates also allow candidates to address concerns their constituents may have about their ability to do the job.
When Ronald Reagan ran for re-election in 1984, a big issue of concern was his age. He was 73 when running for re-election, after having become the oldest person to be inaugurated for a first term at age 69. When the debate moderator asked Reagan a question about his age, Reagan said, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”
Home run. Whether or not you like or agree with Reagan and his policies, that was a great answer. With that answer, Reagan showed a nation that while he may have been older, he was still witty.
So what memorable moments are in store for tonight’s presidential debates? Well, if I knew how to predict the future, I would become a professional lottery player, so I don’t know.
Seeing as how it is a domestic policy debate, I’m guessing we are going to see a lot of questions about the Affordable Care Act, as Obama’s signature health care reform bill seems to be the biggest point of contention (at least policy-wise) for Republicans this election.
This may prove difficult for Romney because Obama’s national plan was modeled largely on the health care plan that Romney implemented as governor of Massachusetts. In fact, during the Republican primaries, former governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, referred to Obama’s plan as Obomneycare because he said the plans were so similar.
Even though Romney was the original architect of the plan, he has railed against it on a national level as “socialized health care.” I’m sure that if people do not remember that, Obama will be happy to remind them tonight.
I feel like debates are good for the overall process and should be mandatory of anyone running for higher office. Usually this rule is not necessary, but you do have a candidate, such as our current Congressman Bob Latta, who refuses to debate his competitor in a public forum.
I believe candidates who refuse to defend their positions in front of their voters are not worthy of our vote because they are obviously hoping that a less informed electorate will favor their chances of winning.
You can learn a lot from these debates because they essentially serve as a quick tutorial on where the candidates stand on the issues. So even if you haven’t yet really tuned into the presidential election, you should tune in to the presidential debates.
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