The Manichean Paranoia Patch

I missed watching the first YouTube Presidential Debate but I did read the transcript.  For those of you not familiar, for the last month anyone with a camera and a YouTube account has had the opportunity to film themselves asking a short (20-30 second) videoclip asking a candidate or candidates a question.  CNN selected the best 39 questions of the lot and passed them on to the candidates live.  Some questioners were in the audience and were asked, following the response, whether or not the person adequately answered their question or whether they avoided giving a substantial answer.

I was extremely impressed by the format of this debate.  Some of the questions were almost painfully direct, unflinching in their desire to get a straight response.  Although some candidates still danced around the issue, on the whole I found this direct format of interaction extremely refreshing, by far the best debate so far.  If you haven’t had the chance, you should look it up.  I think this election should be extremely interesting and I am pleased that new media outlets like YouTube are being used so effectively.  I honestly believe we are seeing a new era of politics right here and that this election may be as historic as the 1960 battle between Kennedy and Nixon.

In 1960, Nixon lost to Kennedy largely because he wasn’t as well-groomed during the first ever televised Presidential debate.  Nixon had campaigned right up until the debate and refused makeup (he had also just come out of the hospital a few weeks earlier.)  His poor performance flipped the momentum to Kennedy.  This was a key moment in the history of American politics because it defined television as the key media outlet.  While I don’t think tonight came anywhere near that moment in terms of its historic importance, I do think we are seeing a major shift in the way in which campaigns will be run in the future.