For the undecided and swing voters the presidential debates may help tip the scales for one candidate or another. It depends a great deal how well the debate is managed by the moderator. It also depends on the extent to which the candidates actually answer the questions asked, and the extent to which the candidates sling insults at one another or make statements and claims to rile up their base and distract from the true issues at hand.
Here are some guidelines and questions for voters to consider when watching or listening to the debates. These guidelines and questions hopefully will make the debates more useful to voters in evaluating each candidate’s vision of what will make him a better president than the other candidate.
General Guidelines
Presidential debates do not reveal who will be a better President. Debating is not a skill that a President needs in confronting an international adversary or deciding about how to respond to a terrorist attack or information that a virus is spreading and may start a global pandemic.
Have you ever seen any President of the United States debate a foreign leader such as Vladimir Putin or Kim Jong Un or the head of the World Health Organization or the head of the CDC?
Debates can provide some insight into a candidate’s personality and character, their “likeability”, their experience in business and government and hopefully their vision for solving some of the nation’s problems.
It was widely reported after the Bush vs. Gore debates in 2000 that many voters found George W. Bush “someone they would like to have a beer with.” But is that really the test of who would be a better president?
Both Trump and Biden claim the 2020 election is the most important election in our lifetime, if not in the nation’s history. Hopefully voters will cast their ballots based on impressions that are deeper and more relevant to the issues than who would make a good drinking buddy.
Here are some thoughts to keep in mind as you watch and listen to the debates, and in your post-debate reflections about what you saw and heard.
In evaluating responses to questions, whose answers are based on facts?
In evaluating past decisions of any candidate, stay clear of being a “Monday morning quarterback”. After an interception is thrown, it is easy and useless to say the quarterback should have called a better play or thrown to a different receiver. The question is, was the decision to call a certain play or throw a certain pass a reasonable one given everything else going on at that moment?
When past decisions were made, the circumstances were very different than today. You have to evaluate past decisions by what was known then, what society felt was important then. Not by today’s standards.
In deciding who “won” the debate, it is important to make your own decision rather than merely accept the assessment of your favorite anchor or “talking head.”
A presidential debate is not a screen test. We don’t really care who is the better actor or performer because we are not seeking a performer who pretends to play the role of “President. We are seeking a leader who can deliver solutions to our citizens’ and our nation’s problems.
Being a President is not an acting job, it is not a performance to entertain.
Being President is about life or death. It is about who has the skill, training and judgment to be your personal life-guard – not when you are sun-bathing at the beach, but when you are trapped in an undertow being sucked out to sea or your ship is sinking.
The important questions you want to ask yourself are:
– Which candidate has the more clear and honest assessment of a situation or the better policy position or the better formula for handling a crisis or facing down an adversary?
– Which candidate has demonstrated the experience, wisdom, judgment, integrity and moral values to lead our nation?
– Which candidate had a difficult life experience or challenge, or a superb success, that revealed his true strength of character and which helped make him who he is today?
Guidelines for the First Debate
The upcoming debate is supposed to address six major topics. Here are some things to watch for and some questions to ask yourselves with respect to each topic and whatever the candidates have to say.
The Trump and Biden Records
Which candidate has been more open and honest about the events and people in his life that influenced his life most profoundly and helped to mold his character or shape his life’s journey?
Which candidate actually has a record of public service?
Which candidate has more experience in creating domestic policies, programs and legislation?
Which candidate has more experience in working with allies to solve common and global issues?
Which candidate has more experience in making deals with foreign allies?
Which candidate has more experience in breaking deals with foreign allies?
Which candidate has actually paid more taxes?
Which candidate has experience in formulating health care plans for the nation?
If so-called “Obamacare” is so bad, why have Republicans and Trump been unable to offer a comprehensive better health care plan over the past twelve years?
Which candidate has “coddled more dictators”? Joe Biden who according to Trump has coddled China and Xie Jinping? Or Donald Trump, who has coddled Putin in Russia, Kim Jong Un in North Korea, Erdogan in Turkey and Duarte in the Philippines, and who has said Xie Jinping is doing a great job in putting a million of his people in China in detention camps?
The Supreme Court
Trump is right, he has a duty to propose a candidate to fill the seat of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and he is acting within his rights to propose any candidate he deems qualified.
If Trump is so confident he will be re-elected, don’t you think it would demonstrate his desire to play fair and heal the country by waiting until the beginning of his second term to appoint a replacement for Justice Ginsberg?
What does it say about the confidence level Trump has in his chances of re-election, that Trump and the Republican Senators are rushing to fill Justice Ginsberg’s seat?
If Republicans like Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham and Mitt Romney were truly men of integrity, men of their word, who promised in 2016 to follow the precedent they set that a vacancy on the Supreme Court in the last year of a President’s term should be filled after the next presidential election, why are they rushing to fill Justice Ginsberg’s seat before the election just 36 days from now?
Is it because they fear that Trump will not be re-elected?
Is it because McConnell and Graham fear that they will not be re-elected?
Is it because Mitch and Lindsay are afraid if they stick to the promises of fairness and principle they made in 2016, Donald Trump will destroy their careers and jobs for having integrity instead of personal loyalty to him?
Covid-19
Has anything Donald Trump said about Covid-19 been true?
Has Covid-19 just gone away like Trump claimed it would?
Is Covid-19 now under control throughout the country?
Who should be leading the effort and developing the policies to get Covid-19 under control: a group of real doctors and scientists with education, training and experience in dealing with pandemics, or a group of politicians with little education, experience or training in pandemics, medicine and science?
If we have “turned the corner” on getting Covid-19 under control and people back to work as the Trump Administration claims:
– Why are airlines already cancelling flights well into next year?
– Why have theater companies cancelled their entire 2020-2021 seasons?
– Why are many companies so slow in re-hiring laid off workers?
– Why is it estimated that of all restaurants that “temporarily” shut down due to Covid-19, 60% will never re-open?
If Covid-19 is such a minor issue and if the Trump Administration has done such a great job of handling the pandemic, why have more than 200,000 Americans died of Covid-19 on Trump’s watch?
How confident are you that if Trump is re-elected, he will get Covid-19 under control and will reduce your chances of getting it or dying from it?
The Economy
As Ronald Reagan famously asked voters to ask themselves in his debate with Jimmy Carter in 1980:
– Are you better off now than you were four years ago?
– Is it easier to get a job now than it was four years ago?
– Is it easier to pay your bills and pay for healthcare and education than it was four years ago?
– Is the United States more respected around the world today than it was four years ago?
Which Administration lost more jobs while in office: the Obama/Biden Administration or the Trump/Pence Administration?
Which Administration has done more to get people back to work: the Obama/Biden Administration after the 2008 financial crises or the Trump/Pence Administration after the Covid-19 crisis?
Can any President restore the economy to full performance without getting Covid-19 under control first, or at least at the same time?
Which candidate has the best plan for getting Covid-19 under control while also getting kids back to school safely and opening up the economy safely?
Why has Trump failed to launch any significant infrastructure rebuilding projects during his four years in office?
Did Trump “win” the trade war he started with China?
Why is the stock market and Wall Street doing so well while middle-class and working-class Americans on Main Street still struggling so hard?
Race and Violence in America
Which candidate do you believe cares more about addressing the issues of race and violence in America?
Whether or not you believe there is “systemic racism” in police departments or communities across the nation, don’t you think the United States would be a better, stronger and more respected country if we solved our historical issues of race and class-warfare?
In a country founded by immigrants and made stronger by immigrants, don’t you think we would be better off finding a way to allow undocumented immigrants without criminal records who have lived and worked in the US for years, to remain in this country with a legal status that allows them and their families who are already here, to remain in the US and become fully contributing members of our society?
Which candidate does more to promote law and order in America: a candidate who believes he is above the law, or a candidate who acknowledges that even as President he must abide by the law?
Whether you are white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Arab, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu or non-believer, rich or poor, an immigrant, child of immigrants or native born American, don’t you think this country belongs to all of us in equal measure? Don’t you think our country is big enough, rich enough, blessed enough with resources, opportunity, courage, drive, ingenuity, creativity and vision to work on solving the many issues of life in the 21st Century? Don’t you think there is room for all of us to do better, if we pool our resources and our talent and if we share the wealth of our heritage and the ingenuity of our families, colleagues, friends and competitors, to build a more inclusive, friendly and functioning world?
Don’t you think we would be better off working to solve the problems of the past and plan for and build a better future?
Don’t you think we would be better off if we end the bloodless civil-war that is going on in this country – between Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, Wall Street and Main Street, whites and black – and get to work solving our problems and making life better for everyone?
Which candidate seems to you have a better vision of how to end racism, class warfare, racial injustice, inequality and our silent civil war, in order to make America prosperous and even better than it is for all Americans?
The Integrity of the Election
If there are problems with the election processes across the country, isn’t it the President’s job to try to fix those problems by working together with each state, instead of suggesting that the election will be rife with fraud?
If there is substantial evidence that the upcoming election will be rife with fraud and/or foreign interference, isn’t it the President’s job to prevent such fraud and interference?
What has Trump done and what is he doing to protect or undermine the integrity of our upcoming elections?
If our national intelligence community has stated that there is already evidence of Russian and Chinese efforts to influence the 2020 election, don’t you think Trump should be doing something to eliminate that interference rather than appearing as a helpless President, who is incapable of doing anything to ensure the integrity of the upcoming elections?
With all the uncertainty about the legitimacy of the upcoming elections, would it make sense to ask the Carter Center – which has monitored and reported on the fairness of elections around the world for years –to monitor and report on the upcoming US Presidential elections?
Why is the President of a country who put men on the moon and is more advanced and technologically sophisticated than any other country on earth, seemingly incapable of ensuring a fair and timely ballot count and presidential election process?
CAVEAT: WHAT YOU SEE AND HEAR IN A PRESIDENTAL DEBATE IS NOT NECESSARILY WHAT YOU GET. BUT IT OFTEN IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU GET.
Government and politics are becoming ever more complicated in our times of rapid technological development, economically rising countries and prospects for greater economic and military conflict between and among countries on many levels. And then there are global threats of climate change, rising sea levels, air pollution, refugee crises, shifting demographics and global pandemics. It can take listening to many experts before deciding what is the better policy on any issue.
The considerations and complexity of many issues can be overwhelming. But decisions still have to be made and we find ways to make them.
Despite this increasing complexity, most decisions we make in life are based on many very common, simple and indirect indicators of a person’s conduct, character and integrity. The same is probably true, at least in part, when deciding which candidate is more likely to be the better President.
How does someone stand; what is their posture and how are they dressed? How well do they speak? Do they show respect or caring for others? Are they mostly self-absorbed? Can they discuss issues in depth or do they just call people nasty names to get a laugh? Are they honest and trustworthy? Do they have a history of keeping their word, paying their debts and paying their taxes? Are they guided by any rules or principles in life? What do they seem to value in life?
You can get a pretty good sense of what kind of a person someone is by watching him or her over an hour or two and over several years in office. You can get an even better sense of people in public life, working as public servants or as servants of their own greatness, as their life journey plays out in the public realm.
You can and should bring all of these things into consideration in watching and listening to the presidential debates and in voting for the candidate who will do the better job of being President of and for all Americans.
