Debate lacks focus

The presidential debates between Republican candidate Bob Dole and president Bill Clinton should not be called debates. The telecast was nothing more than two men playing tennis back and forth without the issues.

Clinton talked about “building a bridge to the twenty-first century” during the Democratic convention but in the “debate,” he continually talked about what jobs he has created and what laws he has passed. There was no concrete discussion of what he was going to do for the future.

Clinton has great ideas about boosting education, but from where does he propose the money will come. If he does come up with funding for these programs, he needs to outline specifically what the programs are designed to do.

Maybe one reason candidates skirt away from discussing raising taxes was due to the example that was made of Walter Mondale, Democratic presidential candidate in 1984.

He told the public that he was going to have to raise taxes to fund programs and balance the budget. It was considered political suicide. But he was honest and gave voters definite answers, regardless of whether it was unpopular or not.

Dole restated his rehearsed lines of reducing taxes and government. He expressed his desire for government to cut down on spending. But there was no concrete discussion of campaign contributions or salaries, except Dole’s jab at Clinton about accepting money from trial lawyers.

Dole did not discuss Clinton’s personal life in detail. He hinted to the fact that Clinton couldn’t be a person to trust. One reason was because his promise to cut taxes led to middle class tax rate changes. He also mentioned Clinton’s possibly having a role in getting Whitewater cronies pardoned.

Both candidates tossed political phrases and rehearsed, pre-scripted lines to one another. In fact, there really didn’t need to be two people present at the so-called debates.

Neither candidate discussed what he was going to do for U. S. citizens in real terms. Neither did either candidate challenge the other person about policy each propose to have.

Dole is continually claiming that he has the formula to reducing taxes and big government. But he goes unchallenged as to exactly where exactly this deduction of money is going to effect the economy. He is not asked how is the budget going to be able to withstand such a drastic cut in the long run.

As far as big government is concerned, Dole has not discussed what he was going to do about the loss of civil service workers if he trims down the government. As far as spending goes, neither candidate discussed the regulation of campaign contributions.

Basically, the debates are supposed to provide answers for the public. Since candidates are motivated to volunteer these answers, having an opponent force the answers out each other was the way Americans traditionally got the truth.

But these orchestrated chit chats pawned off as debates makes one questions whether the Democrats and the Republicans are still two separate political parties.