No Debate

By Ralph Nader:

It was billed as the great debate that, in the words of moderator Wolf Blitzer, “could change the course of this presidential race and the nation.”

Situated at the packed historic Kodak Theatre—site of the Hollywood Oscar awards, thousands of people, including anti-war protesters, were outside, where tickets were being scalped for $1,000.

The burgeoning excitement swept up Mr. Blitzer into an introduction reminiscent of a heavyweight boxing title fight. Referring to the “glamour on this stage…one of the great stages of all time,” he declared that “this will be the first time that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be debating face to face, just the two of them, one-on-one.” The crowd ROARED!

[...]

The two candidates were unperturbed by any questions from the reporters that they had not answered before or they were soft balls they could hit out of the ball park.

As in all debates involving presidential candidates, the reporters were unwilling or incapable of asking the unconventional questions reflecting situations and conditions widely reported or investigated by their own colleagues.

This phenomenon of invincible reluctance should be studied by anthropologists or psychologists.

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"Gee, why ask tough questions when we could simply have a black or woman president?!" seems to be the sentiment Ralph is talking about.

Everyone wants superficial change of the White House, few seem to be pushing for fundamental change of our false democracy. Having a black or woman president is not enough, the particular candidates do not own up to progressive ideas and I fear they never will. The fact of the matter is that they're corporate Democrats who just want the office. Both of them have done a minimal amount of fighting on behalf of We the People.

I'm not voting for either of them.

I'm not being pessimistic, Clinton and Obama are conservatives. They use the most vague language possible about "change," and don't take strong stances on the tough issues like getting the fuck out of Iraq. They don't want to say they're going to end the war immediately, even thougt that's what most Americans want. They don't want to push for straight up universal health care. They pretend to have their own brand new health care plans that will benefit everyone but it's really the same old junk.