What would happen if Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were sent to debate with one another with no restrictions or limitations? Well, due to debate moderators, that question is fortunately irrelevant.
The three presidential debates of the last few weeks have been sources of laughter, sadness, despair, and hope for both Obama and Romney supporters, and it has all been possible by the mediation, or lack thereof, of moderators.
But before we dive into each individual moderator, what exactly are the duties of a moderator? Well, a moderator must first introduce both parties by name and have extensive background information on the nature of the discussion as well as both candidates. A moderator must also end petty squabble and quarrels between them. Though this may seem ironic as the nature of a debate is to present arguments, the discussion can sometimes get out of hand when insults and name-calling are thrown about; it’s then up to the moderator to restore order. He or she must also redirect discussion if one candidate goes on a tangent which veers him off-topic. Finally, a moderator must carefully watch the clock to keep the debaters within pre-determined time constraints.
So, how did the presidential debate moderators fare in upholding these responsibilities?
Jim Lehrer’s Performance
The answer to this question concerning Jim Lehrer, moderator of the first presidential debate, is not pretty. Having moderated 11 prior presidential debates, expectations were high for his performance at the October 3rd debate. However, both candidates talked over the 78-year-old’s unsuccessful attempts to keep the debate moving along as the candidates more than exceeded their time constraints. Additonally, Lehrer’s open-ended questions did not clearly direct the discussion whatsoever, and he was often too passive to sway any potentially insulting comments. A Twitter account @SilentJimLehrer was even made in light of his passiveness.
Reviews of Lehrer’s performance cut him no slack. Political writer Michael Tomasky wrote, “Definitely Lehrer’s last debate.” This type of harsh critique crossed party lines: Republican commentator Laura Ingraham tweeted that Lehrer seemed “a bit overwhelmed,” while Democratic activist Bill Maher bluntly stated that “Lehrer sucked.”
Candy Crowley Moderates the Second Debate
The second presidential debate was a different story with Candy Crowley as moderator. As the first female to moderate a presidential debate since 1992, uncertainty of her performance was apparent from the get-go. New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor wrote, “Gender dynamics at debates are tricky,” while Nicholas Kristof thought the two candidates could use this to their advantage. He figured, “Since both candidates are trying to convince voters that they can respect women, they might start by respecting Candy Crowley.”
Due to the different format of the debate, Crowley wasn’t in a position to specifically direct the conversation as Lehrer was able to at the previous debate. However, Crowley was able to jump in with many strong follow-up questions that kept the president and governor on task, trying to have each undecided voter’s question actually answered.
In her moderation of the debate, Crowley proved most resolute in her attempts to transition from question to question. Both parties repeatedly tried to argue with Crowley about the rules of the debate in order to get more answering time, but Crowley stood firm. For example, when Romney tried to reply to an earlier point of Obama’s that did not answer the question asked, she told him that “there [would] be plenty of time” for him to digress later, and while Obama tried to respond to another point later on, she said, “we’re going to move you along to taxes.” Crowley’s performance has been praised by many, including MSNBC’s Chris Matthews who noted that the debate was “very well moderated.”
However, there has been critique that she was unfairly subjective to Obama. Romney supporters were enraged when Crowley corrected Romney when he said that the President had failed to call the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi an ‘act of terror.’ This anger was then heightened when Obama’s confidence led him to ask Crowley, “Can you say that a little louder?” Her time management ended up less than perfect as well, for the final speaking time ended up being 44 minutes and 4 seconds for Obama and 40 minutes and 50 seconds for Romney. This potential evidence for a bias was later unsupported when the final word count for Romney ended up being 7,984 and 7,506 for Obama.
Final Performance: Bob Schieffer
The final debate was moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS. Schieffer’s task was to monitor a debate related mainly to foreign policy, and reviews, though positive for the most part, are somewhat contradictory.
Many note that this foreign policy debate had an awful lot to do with education reform in the United States. Zap2it stated, “Schieffer didn’t do a great job of keeping the candidates on track, or on topic. At one point, Schieffer had to say to the candidates, ‘Let me get back to foreign policy.’ When Romney pressed that he’d like to first continue discussing education, Schieffer responded with a sheepish, ‘OK.'”
Politico noted, “Never once did President Barack Obama or Mitt Romney disregard his efforts to keep time and move the conversation forward, never once did they ride roughshod over him. All six topics were covered, and when the debate ended, there was but a 35-second discrepancy in the speaking times, according to a clock provided by CNN.”
Having said all of this, how do you think the moderators compare?
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