I flagged this comment by Jim Shon in reply to a Facebook post by longtime journalist Bob Jones. Shon is a former legislator who has been director of the Hawaii Educational Policy Center at the University of Hawaii since 2012.
Jones had shared his evaluation of the candidates performances in yesterday’s Democratic presidential debate, ranking those who he felt did well and those who should probably exit the race.
But Shon came from a different perspective. He wrote:
A debate performance is nothing like being in office and making decisions, and selecting good staff, and understanding what you do not know. This is like waving signs in Hawaii…has little to do with governance. Why anyone would make up their minds based on these One Act Plays is puzzling.
I’m afraid I agree with Shon on this. These debates are mostly spectacle that have little to do with showing off a candidate’s governing and thinking abilities, their ability to take and learn from criticism, skills at working with others, and on and on and on. This is entertainment. The Dems have a few very entertaining candidates. That’s about all I can glean from the debates.
Your thoughts?
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The Democratic Party’s debates are meaningless hucksterism and have mostly demonstrated a sad propensity for self-immolation and willingness to see Trump re-elected.
But don’t worry because Tulsi will save the nation.
Seems like a good assessment to me-entertainment, much like most to the US based news coverage of much of anything- that and an enormous unfettered advertising platform for big pharma and emus……If it weren’t for NHK and BBC I would foster the delusion that the world was just an assortment of over compensated talking heads and the world outside the beltway had died long ago.
I agree completely. Having worked for Jim a long time ago, I know he’s imminently pragmatic and well-seasoned in political reasoning.
There are two different skill sets in operation – one is campaigning and the other is governing. I’ve known plenty of folks who were good at one but not the other. It’s not that common for someone to be good at both, unfortunately.
I don’t waste time or energy on these debates. I look at candidates positions, who supports them, what have they done in their life. I’m not pleased with the DNC. However it will be utterly tragic if Trump/ Pence continue.
It’s all irrelevant to me, here on this island (Oahu). Our votes don’t count here and elections are called long before our votes are even looked at so I don’t vote for Federal election candidates unless it’s for our US senators/CONgress.
The important elections here are governor, mayor, council, house and senate and the usual indecipherably worded charter amendments and the like.
(Just say NO to Krook Crapwell in ’22!)
The Democrats have no fear of Trump, they have fear of each other! Left alone they will all self destruct!
In Hawaii, money is the only winner…no one else need apply. Interesting the effect of the Aloha Aina Party on Democrats will intensify the Asian Party profile.
While the Republicans remain an enigma destroyed by Linda Lingle after attaining #18 house seats in 2000.
She bashed, banished and crushed them while Governor.
I think it’s worse than that. These debates are political theater. That’s not pure entertainment, but a functional technique. For the DNC, put simply the debates create the pretense of legitimacy and genuine interest on the part of candidates. Of course, they also are a form of entertainment that creates profit for media outlets. But as a voter, I’m primarily concerned about the former as I watch Pete Buttigieg tell venomous lies about policies like Medicare for All and the Sanders movement at large. For example, he is not stupid enough to believe Sanders is truly responsible for a small portion of outlier supporters who say vicious things to anyone who dares question Sanders. That’s preposterous, and if it were true, they all would be guilty of the same poor leadership as every candidate has bad-actor supporters.