Perspectives on the You Tube Democratic Debates

While the citizen participation, passion, and creativity was refreshingly innovative, over a third of the questions dealt primarily with personal questions rather than the future policy direction.  I don’t go to the voting booth to determine whether a candidate sent their kids to or took an airplane to the debate, I vote on the marrow of the issues and the.  Other issues are distant thirds, fourths, and fifths.  After all, that’s their constitutional mandate.  Or did I miss something in Government 101?  Maybe, I just think these “Gotcha” questions are cheap shots that don’t really reflect the vision of compassion as expressed in policy choices.

 

This cutting edge use of user created content was a fun twist on an old concept –a political mashup if you will.  This is one of the first times that a mainstream media outlet, like CNN, has been integrated traditional media (in this case debate coverage) with new media such as YouTube in such a dramatic and meaningful way.  At the end of the day I lay the blame for the poor questions at the feet of poor decision making by CNN folks.  They would have made these decisions irrespective of where the questions came from whether it be editors, audience, or you tube. 

 

One of the best questions of the night was a question about how to reform the process of voting to enhance the fairness and legitimacy of elections.  If Starbucks can get it right, why can’t we get it right at the ballot box?  One of the scariest questions was from a wife-beater clad guy who clutched the barrel of his semi-automatic weapon proclaiming it to be his “baby” and asking about gun control issues.  He was basically a case study for why we have gun control and waiting periods.  I certainly hope this isn’t who folks are talking about when they talk about Joe six-pack.  People with trigger fingers scare me a bit, but I guess my Christian faith calls me to love them, even as I encourage others not to adopt their lifestyle(s).

 

Your take?  Your thoughts?  Your perspective?  What did you think?  Good questions?  Bad questions?  Worst questions?  What were your takeaways? Did you like the new format?  And who won?