For quite a while now I've read many people's enthusiastic prediction that Barack will mop the floor with MCCain in a debate, and that even worse will befall Palin in a debate with Biden.
I hope these people are right, but I fear they are wrong. Not because Barack and Biden don't have what it takes, but because these debates hinge on a very very weak point: the effin' moderators (tm).
The effin' moderators control the discussion. The debate participants don't really get much going back and forth. The tone is set by the questions that are asked, and we saw during the primaries that the effin' moderators will debase themselves and their profession to protect the effin' establishment (Sorry, it's Ramadhan and I need to watch my tongue.)
Thankfully, the utter disgraces that are Charlie Gibson and George Steponallofus don't get to eat pie this time, but we still have Brokaw and Scheiffer to worry about.
It's almost as (if not more) important for the moderators do a good job as it is for the candidates to do well. What kind of questions will be asked? What kind of crap will be aired in order to satisfy the increasingly infantile version of even-handedness that passes for journalism these days?
Will our guy have the guts to throw a garbage question back at the moderator if he gets one? (During the ABC debates, I SO wished Barack would have told those clowns: "You know what George? I am not doing this. This is not a race for the cover of a tabloid magazine, we are competing for the leadership of the most powerful nation in the world, so I will instead use my allotted time to discuss issues of substance.")
I think Barack Obama is a leader the likes of which America has not seen in over a generation. I think America needs that kind of leadership now more than it has in decades, if ever. But love him as I might, Barack's performance during debates is... meh. So I worry about things which might throw a wrench in his preperation. And chief among these things, the effin' moderators.
Am I right to be nervous about this, or am I in danger of concern-trolling?
Give me some reassurance!!