The whole exercise felt like a dim reflection of the actual race for the nomination.
And perception certainly played a role in Wednesday’s event. For instance, someone clearly told DeSantis that he should show some dynamism and personality by speaking louder and moving his head around more than he usually does. It most definitely did not work.
And here’s a secret: Presidents don’t actually have to debate. The outcome of a trade war with China won’t be decided by the American president having a rhetorical showdown with Xi Jinping, to be scored by a randomly selected panel of focus group participants. After getting through the general election debates next fall, the candidate who wins won’t have to do it again for another four years, if at all.
There’s nothing wrong with eloquence and a quick wit, which are useful in debates — the president does have to do a lot of talking — but the factors that really produce presidential success include deft handling of crises, the ability to build legislative coalitions and manage the federal government, and balancing short-term and long-term goals. None of which can be demonstrated with a clever zinger delivered in a canned response to a question designed to catch the candidate off guard.
One can argue that even if they’re often terrible, debates are still the best thing available to voters to size the candidates up. A two-hour exposure to them will tell you more than a series of 30-second ads you’ll have pumped through your television over and over again. But the more candidates there are, the harder it is to get a good sense of them. And they have more incentive to use their limited time on attention-seeking sound bites in hopes of leading cable news and social media afterward.
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