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Forget The Snowman Already

That may sound like a contradictory headline considering my Friday gripe about the snowman question at the CNN/YouTube debate. But my rant was less about the snowman than about the CNN bigwigs who decided to air it. They needed a dose of keep-it-presidential reality when screening the questions.

But as I mentioned Friday, the idea that Mitt Romney or any other Republican candidate would use one snowman question to avoid a debate where citizens ask them questions via online video is ridiculous.

GOP e-politics expert Patrick Ruffini had it right when he said, "If you think this is about snowmen, you are sadly mistaken." It's about whether Republicans are afraid of the Internet -- and the people who see it as a great medium for engaging with their leaders.

It's worth noting that overall, the Democratic CNN/YouTube debate was a positive development. Yes, there were low points. The snowman question was a misguided attempt at entertainment amid a serious event. The opening and closing questions -- How are you going to be different? What's to like and dislike about the candidate to your left? -- were softballs. The lone gun-control question featuring a man who called his assault weapon his "baby" arguably exposed CNN's bias by trying to portray all gun-rights advocates as lunatics. And the redneck question ... welll, 'nuff said.

But there were plenty of high points, too. The video montage of very personal healthcare questions was powerful. Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois have been bickering for days thanks to a citizen's question about diplomatic meetings with the leaders of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela. There were meaty questions about Iraq, genocide in Darfur, nuclear power, taxes, Social Security, education, religion, race and gender, and even obscure but interesting topics like reparations for slavery and including women in the draft.

Plus occasionally, the candidates provided meaty answers.

The debate certainly wasn't worse than any where only journalists grill the candidates, and snowman question aside, I think it was better. I'd like to see more such debates -- with Republicans, Democrats and more.

If Mitt Romney or any other candidates get questions they think are inappropriate, they can say so. Imagine the applause any of the Democrats would have received by prefacing the answer to Billiam the Snowman by saying something like: "Global warming is a serious issue, and CNN has demeaned the subject by having a snowman ask the question. But here's what I would do as president to address global warming."

Or if Republicans don't think CNN and YouTube deserve a second chance because they so royally botched the Democrats' debate, look elsewhere. There are plenty of other news networks and/or video-sharing sites that could plan a similar debate. Word has it that ABC already has a plan to one-up CNN, and Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters proposed a tweak in the format by CNN and YouTube.

The point is, don't ditch the format because of a few glitches in the first experiment. Improve upon it.

P.S. My wife just said, "When you have to write about forgetting the snowman," maybe I'm the one with the problem. Point taken ... but I'd already started waxing eloquent, so I had to finish the post.

Posted by Danny | 07:02 AM

Comments

Don't let the details get in the way of two huge points....

First, the Internet will impact every election going forward. Second, no candidate from either party has made a significant proposal to fundamentally change how we live over the next twenty-five years.

Getting caught up in the "snowman" fog is a sure way to accomplish two unintended goals, one is being ignorant and the other is losing an election.

WoosterBillings | 07.31.07 10:07 AM

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