Point: Bush caves to the democratic process
The most secretive president in history seems to have bowed to public pressure to participate in all three debates proposed by the Commission for Presidential Debates. Despite his misgivings about the second debate, which will be in a town hall format, President Bush reportedly has agreed to answer questions from undecided voters, though the campaigns have yet to finalize details.
The party line repeatedly had been that Bush would not discuss his debate plans with anyone other than the Kerry campaign. “The campaign maintains its position that it will not negotiate the terms of the debates in the press,” said Bush-Cheney communications director Nicolle Devenish.
Hogwash. A Kerry campaign official told the Washington Post that Bush was pressured via the media, Republican donors, and Missouri public officials.
Plus, there’s simply no better explanation than public pressure to account for Bush’s change of heart. Bush has every reason to avoid debating, especially in the unscripted second debate. His speaking skills are inferior than Kerry’s and subpar for a president in general. Add to this his difficulty thinking on his feet, and he surely won’t go into that town hall cheerfully.
Washington University students were on the forefront of putting pressure on Bush to accept the CPD’s schedule. Upon hearing speculation of the debate’s cancellation, Student Union President David Ader drafted a petition calling on the candidates to come to the University and debate. In just two hours, he collected a thousand signatures.
“I hope that the efforts of the over 1,000 people in this were noticed,” Ader said. “We faxed 35 pages of signatures, so somebody had to have noticed.” Indeed, if nothing else, the media picked up on and publicized the students’ effort, including the Post-Dispatch, ABCNews.com, and the local Fox affiliate.
Citizens’ voicing their concerns to the government is how democracy works. Bravo for students and Missourians reminding Bush of his civics lessons: American government is of the people, by the people and for the people.
Counterpoint: It’s a political move to lower expectations
The Bush administration has been better than any other in history in its ability to spin events and decisions in its favor. Nothing happens by accident; even mistakes are turned into opportunities. Despite President Bush changing his own position several times on the 9/11 Commission or Iraq and its justification, Senator John Kerry is the flip-flopper.
Kerry has not, and will not, win the war of words with Bush. The Bush campaign is too deliberate and managed for an accidental leak that Bush wanted to pull out of the debate, only to flip-flop now.
A petition by Washington University students sends a positive message about our involvement, but did not influence a national campaign as well-managed as Bush’s. This latest move is simply a calculated way to lower expectations for all the debates, not just Oct. 8.
As in 2000, the Bush team wants to feign an interest in cancelling the debate to keep expectations for the debates as low as possible. So long as he doesn’t say things like “strategery” and “fuzzy math” more than he says “9/11, “threat” and “safety,” he will look like an honest, regular guy who tells it like it is.
In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Bush used self-deprecating humor to make fun of his own ability to speak English. He can spin his sudden decision to participate as his commitment to the democratic process and interest in the state of Missouri (and its 11 electoral votes), while maintaining low expectations.
The Washington Post is reporting that chief Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd said that Kerry as a debater “is very formidable, and probably the best debater ever to run for president…I think he’s better than Cicero.” When speaking about the debates, John Kerry points out that “George Bush has never lost a debate.”
Both candidates are merely setting themselves up for a stunning surpassing of expectations. Each is well aware of Al Gore’s failure in 2000 when he came off as an arrogant intellectual out of touch with mainstream America. Threatening to cancel is just another step in this carefully planned campaign, and neither Kerry nor any students will be able to pressure Bush to alter his plan.