Newt and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Newt Gingrich spoke to the National Press Club last Sunday, and if you missed it you missed the finest analysis of where American politics stands right now, and more importantly, what needs to be done, since the speeches given long ago by Margaret Thatcher in Great Britain and Ronald Reagan in the United States. Now, just for full disclosure, let me say I am a long-time admirer of Newt, and am involved in trying to get him to run for President. Back to his talk ... Among other things he was talking about real debates for presidential candidates ... not the cameo performance of a bunch of people lined up on a stage, each given two minutes to answer some dumb question posed by a celebrity news reporter. An idea had been put forward 16 years ago by a respected news man - Marvin Kalb - and had been publicly discussed by Newt Gingrich and Democrat Mario Cuomo. The idea is to give two candidates one-and-one-half hours to discuss one issue (the war on terror, or healthcare, or immigration, etc). There would be nine of these so-called "debates", and they would replace the money raising, sound bite, consultant-controlled campaigns we have now. Newt Gingrich, never a popular figure with the Washington press corps, got applause from that group, which tells you he was pushing buttons that made sense to people in addition to his conservative base. Newt is a historian, and basically what he is proposing is a modern, digitized version of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Whether he runs or not, it strikes me he has shown us how great American politics could look, as opposed to what is now happening.

This is Gordon Sawyer and may the wind always be at your back.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/9/86176