YouDebate 2008

Did you catch any of the Youtube Democratic Presidential Debate Monday night? I don’t have any television stations at home, but I did see about 10 minutes of it while I waited for my sandwich at Firehouse Subs (their Club-on-a-Sub is divine!). The 2 questions I heard were:

“Hello, America. Hello, presidential candidates. This is Will from Boston, Massachusetts. And I hope, you know, they put this question on. It's a question in the back of everybody's head. You know, in some people, it's further back than others, collecting cobwebs.
But is African-Americans ever going to get reparations for slavery?
I know you all are going to run around this question, dipping and dodging, so let's see how far you all can get.”

and:

“Do you believe the response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina would have been different if the storm hit an affluent, predominantly white city? What roles do you believe race and class played in the storm's aftermath? And if you acknowledge that race and class affected the response efforts, what can you do to ensure that this won't happen in the future? And what can you do to ensure this nation's most needy people, in times of crisis and always, something will be done to help them too?”

Gimme a break! CNN did a great job choosing which questions to air, don't you think? (It’s no wonder that I no longer watch television!)

CNN has cheapened these debates to the point that I simply cannot take them seriously. I’ve got no love for any of the democratic nominees (not much more for any in the GOP either, for that matter) but this "modernized" format is not fair to the candidates and it's not fair to us. I'd say it's comical at best. There’s a reason that professional reporters moderate and ask the questions in these debates. I don’t care what Dimwit from Podunk, TN has to say about Bush hating black people. I want to hear real questions about real issues facing us today. Immigration, the War, bipartisan pandering to special interest groups, etc. (Not that the reporters always ask the most pertinent questions, but it's better than a snowman asking questions about how his children will survive with the rise in global warming!)

Am I alone? Does anyone find this new format “groundbreaking,” “relative,” “engaging,” or “refreshing?” Or am I right in declaring that it's completely asinine?