Debates and Lincoln

On the Daschle-being-shamed-into-another-debate front, which was noted here earlier today, Quentin deconstructs the Daschle campaign's rather odd account of their capitulation and notes their previous claim that 5 debates was overkill. They persisted in their opposition to debates, but since the image of the all-powerful Leader cowering before the prospect of debates seemed so absurd, they've now been shamed into 3 more. But the Daschle campaign misses the important points raised by the Rapid City Journal about the quality of the remaining television debates. Note what the Journal said, in surely one of the more enlightened and redeeming moments of this campaign, when advocating weekly Lincoln-Douglas debates:

[W]e believe more debates would be good for voters, good for the campaign and, in the end, good for our entire political system. Political campaigns have always been about manipulating reality - avoiding some truths while accentuating others - by opposing candidates. But now more than ever the major candidates rely on well-paid consultants, high-priced advertising blitzes and carefully scripted public appearances to highlight their strengths and camouflage their weaknesses.

We think it's time to abandon this tedious maze of manipulation and return to the territory of the truth. And we encourage Tom Daschle and John Thune to lead us there through a series of weekly debates between now and the election.

Further, we think the current format of debates - which are often just forums, where candidates respond to a series of fragmented questions from reporters or audience members, rather than squaring off against each other - should be thrown out. The Daschle-Thune debates should be fashioned, loosely, after the historic series of debates between incumbent U.S. Sen. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and his challenger, a political upstart named Abraham Lincoln.

When Douglas began his hourlong opening statement for the first debate with Lincoln, he committed himself to "discussing the leading political topics which now agitate the public mind."

...

We like the idea of the Sunday Night Debates, televised live on public television, with replays during the week. We think word would spread, people would watch, the public would be engaged.

We think the Daschle-Thune debates could set a new direction for political campaigns. It's a high-profile race between two bright, articulate candidates with strong ideals and differing philosophies - much like Lincoln and Douglas.

Amen. Lord knows the democratic process needs improvement. As I noted before, all this reminds of the great social critic Christopher Lasch, whose final book was entitled The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy. From his chapter "The Lost Art of Argument," which was finished just before Lasch died:

The Lincoln-Douglas debates exemplified the oral tradition at its best. By current standards, Lincoln and Douglas broke every rule of political discourse. They subjected their audiences (which were as large as fifteen thousand on one occasion) to a painstaking analysis of complex issues. They spoke with considerably more candor, in a pungent, colloquial, sometimes racy style, than politicians think prudent today. They took clear positions from which it was difficult to retreat. The conducted themselves as if political leadership carried with it an obligation to clarify issues instead of merely getting elected.

When reflecting upon Senator Daschle's resistance to Lincoln-Douglas debates, read this about Daschle's media guru. Excerpt:

Daschle's image-maker was, and still is, Karl Struble, who started his work as a Democratic operative for Jimmy Carter in 1980 and focused much of his attention on grass-roots organizing and image-shaping. Struble learned from Democratic mistakes and from the Reagan campaign: "Democrats have been hung up with the details of a subject, instead of the overriding feelings the electorate has." In 1985, Congressional Quarterly reported that in Daschle's 1984 House reelection effort, "Struble tested the 'feel good' approach with a series of ads built around the theme of 'Why I Love South Dakota.' His current work for Daschle picks up where those left off. 'It's almost impossible to see an issue or an accomplishment in the first few ads we put together,' says Struble."

In subsequent campaigns, Struble continued to emphasize feelings over issues. A Campaigns and Elections article from 1992 explained: "Karl Struble, a Democratic consultant, points out that 'most persuadable voters are not issue voters. They use issues...as validators to draw a picture of the candidate's character, and they vote based on the candidate's character (i.e., cares about people like me, honest, effective, etc.).'" The article added that "great ads are different. They come at us from an unexpected slant. Karl Struble once did an ad in which he needed to convey the fact that Tom Daschle was one frugal SOB. He could have just said: 'Tom is a fiscal conservative.' Instead, he showed Daschle driving around Washington in his old, smoke-belching Pontiac. No BMW for Daschle; he was an ordinary guy."

Not much Lincoln in this depressing but revealing statement: "It's almost impossible to see an issue or an accomplishment in the first few ads we put together." It's easy to see why Daschle frets so much about a potential Lincoln-Douglas confrontation.

UPDATE: And as to the "old, smoke-belching Pontiac" once used to construct Daschle's image, he now has a Jaguar in the garage of his $3 million DC mansion.