Worst Debate Ever? A Long Way From 1858

Until the Seventeenth Amendment was passed in 1913, United States Senators were elected by their states’ legislatures. In 1858, the Illinois Legislature was up for reelection with the controlling party being able to fill the open Seat. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglass represented their respective parties in a sequence of debates focused mainly on slavery which have come to be widely remembered as the greatest exhibitions of public debate in American history.

Tuesday night’s Presidential debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama was one of the dullest and most boring debates in American history. The headline on the DrudgeReport Wednesday morning read, “The Worst Debate Ever.” We are facing one of the most pivotal times in American history – we are fighting two wars in the Middle East, the housing market is in shambles, and the stock market has plunged. Now is not the time for political posturing and lackluster debate. It is the time for someone, anyone to lead.

In Lincoln’s day, they had to rely on newspapers to distribute their message. With technology today, millions of people can watch the candidates ducking, dodging, and making excuses live on television and the internet. The entire debate was reiterating stump speeches and avoiding mistakes instead of looking the American public in the eye and properly addressing how to fix the state of our great nation.

The framers of the Constitution never intended for lifetime politicians. They intended that outstanding lawyers, doctors, businessmen, and teachers would put their personal careers aside for a few years to serve their country and then return to private life. The American government has been locked in stagnancy because everyone is so damn worried about the political consequences and winning the next election – rather than actually about achieving anything.

Senator Obama has been running for President since he became Editor in Chief of the Harvard Law Review. He has been focused on doing and saying everything right for the past twenty years. When John McCain came back from Vietnam as a war hero, he found his wealthy bride and her father bought him his Congressional seat. Sitting at the USC Football game yesterday, many people discussed how much they dislike both candidates.

At a time when we need leadership more than ever to preserve American life as we know it, we need to ask more of our leaders not less. The time for a true debate – one which demonstrates the actual differences in how both leaders would rebuild our country and return the U.S. to greatness – is now. I won’t hold my breath as these two lifelong politicians, with ZERO real world experience ask us for our votes while making sure that they never say anything to offend anyone. One of the difficult aspects of leadership is that taking a stand on something means other people will disagree. We should expect our leaders to tell us what they believe and why instead of allowing them to dodge telling us anything at all.