The possibility of four dollars for a gallon of gas, rising food prices, the home foreclosure crises, wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. These are all central issues facing America today. You'd think that in a nationally televised debate to become the next Democratic presidential candidate these would all be covered relentlessly. Well I guess that just seemed too hard for ABC News two days ago.
Instead of asking tough hitting policy questions, moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos lobbed in some real gems like asking Senator Clinton, "do you think Senator Obama can beat Senator John McCain?" And asking Senator Obama "Do you believe in the American flag?" Finally, after more than 45 minutes some actual policy issues were raised.
Why the abandonment of traditional hard hitting journalism for ABC News? Could it be that the network took a page out of the play book from any of the cable news channels? It seems that you can't tune your TV into one of these networks without hearing about near meaningless issues surrounding the candidates. The thing is though, these channels get good ratings, there are people out there that will listen to talking heads go in depth about what Obama/Clinton/McCain had for lunch yesterday.
This debate was not only a trivial event, but a sad statement on the current state of journalism in the United States. A journalists first duty in a Democracy should be to the citizens. By ignoring real issues, the network successfully alienated voters still trying to determine what candidate to support. So, Charlie drop the entertaining, ask some real questions and please quit pretending that you were surprised when audience members booed you at the end of the "debate."
Charlie Gibson: Acting 101