Did you watch the presidential debate a while back? Probably not, because I haven’t found many who did. That’s okay, I forced myself to spend nearly two hours of my life watching so you wouldn’t have to, and I will be watching the vice-presidential debate as well. After all, it is my job as a fearless reporter to keep you up to date on all things of little value. Am I being too harsh in that assessment?
Did you know that the root of the word debate is “to fight”? Well, there you go. That’s explains a lot about debates over the last few election cycles. This last one was rip-roarer. Anyway, I learned a few things about debates that I thought I’d pass along.
Despite what you may have heard or read, the candidates do not stand at a podium. They stand behind a lectern. A podium is a raised platform upon which a lectern rests. As a writer, this confusion has been a pet peeve of mine for some time, so I just wanted to clear that inaccuracy up once and for all. If you want to run for public office, especially the leader of the free world, please learn the proper use of the language!
And why do they need to stand up at all? Is it an endurance test? Is the one who stands up the longest without falling over more qualified to govern? They do sit behind the resolute desk most of the time. Right? I certainly would not be able to stand up for 90 minutes without at least leaning on the lectern. That would not be a good look.
Why can’t they sit down? John Kennedy and Richard Nixon sat down during the first televised debate. Afterwards, the consensus was that Nixon looked tired, maybe that’s why they sat. So why did they stand up during their second debate? Kennedy must have been a shrewd negotiator to get Nixon to stand up. Nixon probably thought it would make him look like he had more stamina than the younger Kennedy. It didn’t. A good shave and some stage makeup might have.
Speaking of stage makeup, at the first Trump-and-Clinton debate, they started out sitting on high stools but ended up roaming around the stage. At the next debate, they were back behind lecterns. Maybe their people were afraid they would come to blows the second time around.
The rules were strict this last time. The candidates’ teams spent weeks negotiating the rules. They were not allowed to have notes. Should we really expect our president to memorize all the details of their proposed policies? We all used crib notes back in school. (You did, right?) After all, they are not actors trained in memorization. (Well, Ronald Reagan was, but the world was less complicated back then.)
They were not allowed to consult their advisors. Isn’t that why they have advisors, to get concise, honest answers? I think the advisors should be allowed to sit behind the candidates on the stage ever ready with the honest facts.
And finally, their microphones were muted when the other spoke to eliminate them interrupting one another, a physical impossibility for a politician. Here’s a thought. What if the microphones were cut off all the time?
I’m beginning to think for this fearless reporter, the job is not worth missing watching Dancing with the Stars.
Mattapoisett resident Dick Morgado is an artist and happily retired writer. His newspaper columns appeared for many years in daily newspapers around Boston.
Thoughts on…
By Dick Morgado
FYI — I was told that Mass. Wampanoag Indians would council / talk standing on ONE foot. As soon as the talker got too tired and put his foot DOWN, he had to stop talking to let the next person speak. (So, I was told. Not sure if it is true.)