2008 Woodie Awards
In hot pursuit of the license to lead
Keva Roberts
Issue date: 11/28/07 Section: Opinion
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When last January rolled around, it was apparently decided that on every sixth day, there would be a political debate. The most recent debate took place on CNN, and was hosted by Wolf Blitzer, whose last name sounds like one of Santa's backup reindeer.
Besides hating to watch a debate every week that ends in a lightning round of filibustering, I hate irritating hosts. While Blitzer is a decorated and influential anchor on CNN, his hosting skills left me perplexed. Most of the time Blitzer cut the candidates off mid-sentence because he wanted to seem more important then he actually was. If they needed a CNN anchor to host the debate, why not go with Anderson Cooper, who is not only polite but also a crowd favorite?
Besides Blitzer's desire to be the most important person on camera that night, something has to be said about the Democratic candidates themselves. Here is perhaps the most important lesson the Dems need to learn; just because (most) of the country is not pleased with the way things have been run under the Bush/Cheney regime, does not mean that a Democrat is a shoe in for president. The three front runners, (one woman in particular), all believe that the race for the White House is only between them. They do not take the Republican candidates into consideration, because they see each other as the ones to beat, either that or because they have not had a Democratic vs. Republican debate, which is what needs to happen.
One issue in particular that has come up in these debates is giving immigrants driver's licenses. In New York, this issue was raised by Governor Eliot Spitzer, who wanted to give illegal immigrants driver's licenses, an idea Clinton supported November 1st. Spitzer has abandoned this belief due to a wave of criticism. However, in the Democrat debate just a week ago, her position changed from supporting the notion to being on the fence about it. She could not simply answer yes or no (which is the only Blitzer criticism I supported).
Besides hating to watch a debate every week that ends in a lightning round of filibustering, I hate irritating hosts. While Blitzer is a decorated and influential anchor on CNN, his hosting skills left me perplexed. Most of the time Blitzer cut the candidates off mid-sentence because he wanted to seem more important then he actually was. If they needed a CNN anchor to host the debate, why not go with Anderson Cooper, who is not only polite but also a crowd favorite?
Besides Blitzer's desire to be the most important person on camera that night, something has to be said about the Democratic candidates themselves. Here is perhaps the most important lesson the Dems need to learn; just because (most) of the country is not pleased with the way things have been run under the Bush/Cheney regime, does not mean that a Democrat is a shoe in for president. The three front runners, (one woman in particular), all believe that the race for the White House is only between them. They do not take the Republican candidates into consideration, because they see each other as the ones to beat, either that or because they have not had a Democratic vs. Republican debate, which is what needs to happen.
One issue in particular that has come up in these debates is giving immigrants driver's licenses. In New York, this issue was raised by Governor Eliot Spitzer, who wanted to give illegal immigrants driver's licenses, an idea Clinton supported November 1st. Spitzer has abandoned this belief due to a wave of criticism. However, in the Democrat debate just a week ago, her position changed from supporting the notion to being on the fence about it. She could not simply answer yes or no (which is the only Blitzer criticism I supported).
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