The world has changed since the last GOP debate
Who can keep us safe in a dangerous world?
The GOP presidential candidate debate coming up November 8th should have a completely different vibe than the previous two debates. Suddenly, the world is a lot more dangerous place because of the Israeli/Hamas conflict that threatens to engulf a lot more of the world, including the United States.
My hope is that unlike the first two debates on Fox News, this one will be more serious and much more under control. The host is NBC News. Let’s hope for a minimum of finger-pointing, rehearsed one-liners and candidates shouting over each other.
The first two debates felt more like a circus than any serious discussion of the issues. Now, the world has changed, and we’ll be watching these candidates much more carefully. Who “gets it” that things are different now? Who understands American power and when to use it and when not to?
It’s interesting how quickly the situation can change. In 2015, I helped organize the first debate between Democratic candidates prior to the 2016 caucuses. It was a nationally-televised debate on CBS, and was held at Sheslow Auditorium at Drake University.
For months, the various partners worked hard to come up with questions we thought were most important. The focus was to be on domestic affairs, with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley the candidates on stage. KCCI anchor Kevin Cooney, Des Moines Register political editor Kathie Obradovich and CBS News White House correspondent Nancy Cordes were the panelists, with the moderator being John Dickerson from CBS News. Over many months, we had meetings to decide the most important issues and write the questions that would bring out the most meaningful answers.
The debate was to be held on a Saturday night in November of 2015. The day before, on Friday, Sheslow was beautifully decked out for a primetime audience. We were holding rehearsals, with all the journalists on stage, and Drake students standing in for the candidates. Things were going great. The lighting, the set, and most important, the questions all seemed to be working when suddenly, things changed.
Near the end of the rehearsal, I noticed the journalists on stage were clasping their hands over their ears to hear what was being said in their earpieces. The faces on the network crew suddenly got much more serious. The atmosphere in Sheslow turned tense.
We were getting first word of a terrorist attack in Paris. Three gangs of attackers set off bombs and fired weapons into crowds at three different venues – a soccer stadium, a concert hall, and random shootings at Paris cafes. The ISIL terrorists had killed 130 people. Another 400 were injured.
It was a shocking act of terrorism. And here we were, less than 24 hours away from hosting the first debate among potential leaders of the free world, but our focus was to be on domestic issues. We had to change everything we had worked on. We had to adapt to world events that were out of our control.
I was incredibly impressed with the folks from CBS News. They stayed up all Friday night and completely re-wrote the entire plan. The video cold open was shot to make it more focused on international events. The music beds were changed to a more serious tone. Every question had to be re-written.
And the most challenging part? Telling the campaigns that their candidate prep for questions about domestic issues was out the window because we needed to focus on international terrorism.
The campaigns were NOT happy at having to change their debate plans at the last minute, particularly the Sanders campaign, feeling that the change in emphasis would benefit former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The truth is, presidents often must react quickly to world events out of their control. In my mind, what a great test to see who was up to the task. It ended up being a strong debate, with serious questions and substantive answers.
Which brings us to the importance of this third GOP debate next Wednesday. Five candidates have qualified so far: Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie.
Is DeSantis capable of rising above his woke-bashing persona to give us confidence he could manage such dangerous world issues? Is this too big of a moment for the inexperienced Ramaswamy? Perhaps Haley has the best opportunity to showcase her foreign experience, having served as US ambassador to the United Nations. But when I hear her campaign ad on TV vowing to dispatch “Communist China to the ash heap of history”, I have to wonder about her seriousness.
I also wonder if Donald Trump is making a serious mistake by skipping the debate. Again. Here’s an opportunity for the man who sat in the Oval Office for four years to look like the experienced statesman. He could make DeSantis look like a wannabe in cowboy boots.
With Trump on the sidelines, who will take advantage of this opportunity to step up and convince Americans they can be trusted to keep us safe in a dangerous world?
These debates used to be moderated by the League of Women Voters until the parties wanted more control. In Iowa most Leagues still have forums for city and school boards. Last year for state elections one party chose not to participate.
As I read this, I felt so grateful that you continue to provide insight and perspective on key issues and events. Loved the 2015 debate story. That’s what happens when serious journalists facilitate a debate vs the talking airheads from Fox.