The two presidential candidates squared off last night in their second debate of the 2012 campaign. This debate was in the "town hall" format, where candidates sat in chairs without podiums, walked around the floor, and responded to questions asked by an audience of Independent voters.
In this format, each candidate had two minutes to respond to a question, then there was a 2-minute period where the candidates could/should interact with each other by asking questions and otherwise having a discussion that isn't possible in the more structured debates.
While this 2-minute "free for all" period has great possibilities, I don't think it worked very well with the candidates last night. They each complained about the other candidate receiving more time or simply interrupted each other. In my view, this detracted from the debate -- and from my opinion of the candidates too. In both presidential debates, the time that each candidate spoke is close to 50-50, which I think is amazing given that the debates last 90 minutes.
It seems juvenile to me that the candidates waste so much time complaining about time. They interrupt the other candidate and they admonish the moderator. It feels like I'm watching a middle school debate.
The fight over time is all the more odd, because I think the candidates waste a lot of their 2-minute time periods. For example, when Mitt Romney was asked a question:"We have problems with the economy -- how will you fix that?"; or "Unemployment is high -- how you will lower it?" (hope you get that job, Jeremy!), he typically spent most of his 2 minutes re-stating the problem. This is why voters keep demanding specifics from him, but he's mostly been vague ("I know how to create jobs!").
President Obama needs to make his case better too. I want to know what he's going to do that's different from his first term that will improve the economy (since we all agree that his first 4 years hasn't been great on the economy), but mostly he criticizes Mitt Romney and avoids that question.
Let's have a more civil third debate, gentlemen. You're not making points with voters by interrupting each other or by complaining about your time.
John Klemanski
In this format, each candidate had two minutes to respond to a question, then there was a 2-minute period where the candidates could/should interact with each other by asking questions and otherwise having a discussion that isn't possible in the more structured debates.
While this 2-minute "free for all" period has great possibilities, I don't think it worked very well with the candidates last night. They each complained about the other candidate receiving more time or simply interrupted each other. In my view, this detracted from the debate -- and from my opinion of the candidates too. In both presidential debates, the time that each candidate spoke is close to 50-50, which I think is amazing given that the debates last 90 minutes.
It seems juvenile to me that the candidates waste so much time complaining about time. They interrupt the other candidate and they admonish the moderator. It feels like I'm watching a middle school debate.
The fight over time is all the more odd, because I think the candidates waste a lot of their 2-minute time periods. For example, when Mitt Romney was asked a question:"We have problems with the economy -- how will you fix that?"; or "Unemployment is high -- how you will lower it?" (hope you get that job, Jeremy!), he typically spent most of his 2 minutes re-stating the problem. This is why voters keep demanding specifics from him, but he's mostly been vague ("I know how to create jobs!").
President Obama needs to make his case better too. I want to know what he's going to do that's different from his first term that will improve the economy (since we all agree that his first 4 years hasn't been great on the economy), but mostly he criticizes Mitt Romney and avoids that question.
Let's have a more civil third debate, gentlemen. You're not making points with voters by interrupting each other or by complaining about your time.
John Klemanski
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