What's a "debate"?
The AP reports that Barack Obama will skip the first of what will be many candidate forums and debates, a form in Nevada, Feb. 21.
But Political Insider's Dan Conley calls it a debate, and speculates as if Obama is ducking something:
By staying away, Obama preserves some mystique and delays his first test ... perhaps until the first quarter is complete. By then, he'll have time for lots of mock debates and might even have a chance to lower expectations. After all, someone this allergic to debating can't be all that good at it, can he?
This is pure nonsense since this is in no way a debate and is not billed as one. It's just candidates speaking sequentially, not even sharing a stage, as I understand it. The DNC speeches last weekend should qualify as a debate by that standard.
In fact, this event was reshaped so as to avoid even the semblance of debate:
Nevada Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirsten Searer said some candidates also had expressed concerns about the format of the forum, and the party agreed to accommodate them. Candidates will appear on stage individually, give a statement and answer a series of questions posed by a moderator, Searer said. "Their concern was that they didn't want a lot of negative back and forth," Searer said. "We were very open about the format. We want to give them an opportunity to introduce themselves to Nevada as they're comfortable."But even so, what would make it a debate? When the first "debates" are held April 4 and 5 in New Hampshire, and 10 candidates at a time share a stage and take turns answering questions, is that a debate? What "mock debates" would one hold to practice for that?
The more candidates one has on stage at a time, the less the event lends itself to debating, and the more it is, simply, a forum.
Discuss, please.
