Gotcha Barack!!!

I didn't watch last night's debate -- in fact, I see little point in watching what have become little more than "gotcha moments." Ever since that SNL skit about the press being soft on Obama, they have bent over backward to go the other way. But, Obama has become much more skilled at debating as a result.
Well, from what I saw of snippets on CNN, and from what I've read this morning, the focus was on Obama, with Hillary piling on. From what I've seen the first half of the debate focused on Obama's comments, and then later on turning to the real issues. I like Charlie Gibson, but I don't understand why the debate organizers -- the Compassion Forum moderators did the same thing -- focus on the little gaffes rather than on the issues that matter. Tom Shales writes in review of the event that ABC comes out the real loser here.

For the first 52 minutes of the two-hour, commercial-crammed show, Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news. Some were barely news to begin with.

And then there was the issue asked so often before about whether they would serve together. First of all this is a ridiculous question to ask. The choice of a VP needs to be well thought out. No one making McCain commit to Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee. They are speculating, but that's all. Why should either Barack or Hillary state now that they would choose the other. That makes no sense. Here's what Tom Shales said about that.

Gibson sat there peering down at the candidates over glasses perched on the end of his nose, looking prosecutorial and at times portraying himself as a spokesman for the working class. Blunderingly he addressed an early question, about whether each would be willing to serve as the other's running mate, "to both of you," which is simple ineptitude or bad manners. It was his job to indicate which candidate should answer first.

When, understandably, both waited politely for the other to talk, Gibson said snidely, "Don't all speak at once." For that matter, the running-mate question that Gibson made such a big deal over was decidedly not a big deal -- especially since
Wolf Blitzer asked it during a previous debate televised and produced by CNN.

I don't think either candidate was well served last night. In fact, while Barack was put on the defensive throughout the night, Hillary's decision to pile on could backfire.
From what I've seen of this debate season, from the very beginning, the candidates really need to take control of the process and work together to get a format and moderators who will focus on the issues not on gossip!

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