March 13, 2004
Lincoln vs. Douglas, Kerry vs. Bush?
In arguably the shrewdest move of the campaign season so far, John Kerry has made a call for monthly debates leading up to the election. On his way to the site of one of the historic debates between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, Kerry told reporters that he and President Bush "can give this country a campaign that genuinely addresses our real issues and treats voters with respect." The 'big issues' at stake, he says, cannot make the 2004 election "politics as usual."
Neil Postman's brilliant Amusing Ourselves To Death extends McLuhan's thesis on technology into a critique of television, and uses the Lincoln-Douglas debates as a stark contrast to the political discourse today.
Now, it is perhaps difficult to parse out whether Sen. Kerry would really like to elevate the political discourse to the level of debates that would last four or five hours (at times, agreeing that more ought to be debated after dinner!) with a rapt public in the thousands, or is simply baiting Bush. Either way, if he maintains such a position, the Bush camp is painted into a corner with unpleasant options: not debating looks bad and debating might look worse.
Pessimistic or optimistic on the impetus behind it, if they can keep this pressure up, this bodes well for democratic strategy in the coming months.
Posted by Palabris at March 13, 2004 04:40 PM
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