Get political

Through my Oral Communications class, I recently became aware of a series of Presidential debates that would air on CNN, in collaboration with YouTube. Since they are available on YouTube, I was able to watch the whole Democratic Debate that took place in Nevada on November 15. This year they also gave the unique opportunity for YouTube users to download a video of them presenting a question to the candidates. This past July, there was a debate in South Carolina during which a select number of those questions were presented to the Democratic Candidates. On November 28, there will be a Republican debate that follows the same format.


I think that this is an insightful idea. It's certainly not perfect because of all the editing that needs to occur. All of the questions cannot possibly be answered due to time constraints, however, it might a step in the right direction. Even the idea of making the debates available on YouTube makes them more readily available. For debates that are only televised, if you have a conflict, you totally miss the debate unless you have TiVo or other such technology. I think it's also a good way to get the younger generation involved and to help us stay informed.

In this debate, one question about education was posed. One of the moderators asked why teachers' unions make it difficult to reward great teachers with pay raises. I really liked Chris Dodd's response to the question. In his opinion, it depends on how you measure a great teacher. Some teachers go into inner-city schools and are able to make a difference in lives on their students, but other teachers stick to middle-class schools that often receive very good test scores. By what standard can you measure a great teacher? Click here to watch that segment of the debate (the question begins at time 3:37)

There are so many facets of each candidate to consider, which makes voting for a candidate very difficult. As a college student studying to be a teacher, I pay particular attention to questions about education, but education is not covered to the degree of the war in Iraq, immigration, or other such topics. Do I vote for the candidate who represents my views on education or do I vote for a candidate who deals with other issues in ways that I agree with? After watching this debate with several of my friends, we questioned the effectiveness of our system. The primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire essentially determine the fate of the candidates, well, why don't all of the states have their primaries on the same day?

By beginning my knowledge about the candidates with this debate, I will be able to stay better informed regarding the candidates for the 2008 elections. This will be the first presidential election that I will be eligible to vote in, so I hope to be able to make an informed decision. I like pieces of what each candidate had to say, but not all of each candidate's position. It comes down to weighing the issues which are most important to me. Personally, a candidate needs to be committed to ending the war in Iraq very quickly; that is something that I feel very strongly about. Oftentimes, the candidates use such elaborate wording that it is often hard to figure out exactly where each candidate stands on any particular issue. If you listen to them on another day, they might have altered their position ever so slightly. I'm glad that I had the chance to watch this debate because it helped to get me interested in this election. I am planning on watching the debate on November 28 as well, although with convenience of the Internet and YouTube, I will not necessarily have to watch it on the 28th.