How Much Do Debates Tell Us?

Clearly we have gotten to the point where election campaigns are defined largely by debates. This is a venerable American tradition, going back to Lincoln-Douglas. It also has the advantage of at least being better than 30-second ads. Other than that, how much are debates worth? Are they simply demonstrations of verbal facility, or do they show something more substantive?

I suppose my answer would be both. Skill at public speaking has not always been an essential trait in a President. Thomas Jefferson was both brilliant and a master of language (as his writings show), but he was shy about public speaking. During two terms, he gave two public speeches -- his first and second inaugural addresses. Nor did he address Congress directly or hold formal public receptions. He tried as much as possible to stay out of the public eye, considering it un-republican for an executive to make a display of himself. Yet he was quite probably our strongest and most influential President ever because he had extraordinary moral authority with his party and could count on it to do whatever he suggested. No modern-day President could possibly govern in this fashion. Giving public speeches, offering symbolic leadership, and using the bully pulpit have been part of the President's job since Teddy Roosevelt's day. Any modern day President who behaved like Jefferson would be considered derelict in his duties. So some public speaking ability is essential to a modern-day President.

But, as Republicans love to point out, any idiot can read off the teleprompter. Debate is more spontaneous than giving a formal public speech. How important is it? To take a far less grandiose example than Jefferson, the senior Bush was every bit as inarticulate as his son, but no one ever thought he was stupid. So what is it we are testing in a debate? And how important is it?

I believe the answer is that we want a President who understands the foremost public issues of the day (at least in their broad outline) and can formulate intelligent policy responses to them. The debates are based on the assumption that anyone who understands the foremost issues and can develop intelligent policy responses should be able to articulate that understanding and response. Furthermore, to show that the candidate is not just reciting someone else's canned phrases, we put them into a not-entirely-rehearsed format and ask the candidate to respond to challenges.

Now I will grant, there may be flaws to this approach. It is at least theoretically possible for a candidate to have a good grasp of policy but be poor at putting it into words. Although in that case, we might worry, not just about how such a President would communicate with the public, but also with subordinates. And more importantly, a candidate might have a good policy understanding and just not be good at thinking fast on his (or her) feet. It is by no means clear to me that thinking fast on your feet is an important quality in a President. But just as asking candidates to articulate their understanding of policy is the best test we have of whether they have it, asking them to think on their feet is the best test we have for weeding out candidates who are just reading the teleprompter.

There may be a better format for this than debates. If so, I would love to hear it.