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 News from Around the Americas | July 2007 
Democrats Answer to the People in YouTube Debate
 Ewen MacAskill - The Guardian UK
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| | Democratic presidential candidates participate in the CNN/YouTube debate in Charleston, South Carolina on the campus of The Citadel, July 23, 2007. The candidates are (L-R) Former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK), U.S. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), former U.S. Senator John Edwards (D-NC), U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), and U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). (Tami Chappell/Reuters) |
Democratic candidates in the 2008 presidential race last night launched a new, more direct and livelier form of political debate.
YouTube, the video-sharing website that is only two-and-half years old, joined with CNN to allow a cross-section of Americans to question the challengers in 30-second video clips.
In the fourth of the Democratic debates, the tired format of journalists putting the questions to the eight candidates was finally dispensed with. YouTube provided 50 questions from more than 2,000 videos sent in, ranging from a cancer survivor to the father of a soldier killed in Iraq and a man cradling his "baby", a gun.
Americans from all round the country and abroad, including a refugee camp in Darfur, provided different voices, accents and a refreshing directness. One asked Barack Obama if he was "authentically black" and Hillary Clinton if she was feminine enough.
They asked about issues that included reparations for African-Americans for slavery, gay rights, Hurricane Katrina, Iraq and health care. However, despite the technological advance in the format, there were times when it was just as shallow as previous outings.
But overall, the success of the format last night makes it almost certain that a similar model will be adopted next year in the three presidential debates running up to the November election. Most of the questions were serious but were interspersed the irreverence and anarchy associated with YouTube. One questioner, appearing on the video as a snowman, asked about climate change, another sang his question.
All the candidates appeared uncomfortable with the more uncoventional videos, listening with fixed smiles. CNN filtered the questions and one of its journalists, Anderson Cooper, acted as moderator, but kept a relatively low profile, giving maximum exposure to the video questioners.
Early in the debate, held on the campus of the Citadel military college in Charleston, South Carolina, Jordan Williams, a student from Kansas, questioned Barack Obama whether he was "authentically black enough".
He recalled he had had the same difficulties as other African-Americans in hailing a taxi: "You know, when I'm catching a cab in Manhattan in the past. I think I'm giving my credentials."
The same questioner asked Ms Clinton if she was feminine enough. "I couldn't run as anything other than a woman," she said, adding she was proud to run as a woman.
Ms Clinton, who has been consistently running at about 40% in the polls for the Democratic nomination, was the clear winner in the first of the four debates in April, while Mr Obama, who stands about 25% in the polls, came across as uncertain.
Last night, Ms Clinton again came across as the more confident. While Mr Obama did better than the earlier debates, he stumbled on several issues, particularly foreign affairs.
The politeness that marked the first three debates is over. Both Ms Clinton and Mr Obama swapped personal jibes over Iraq and foreign policy.
Asked when he would pull US troops out of Iraq, Mr Obama reminded the audience that senators, such as Ms Clinton who had voted for the war, should have thought about how to get out of Iraq before getting into it. Ms Clinton said that the honest answer was complex and it would take time to get the troops out.
Answering a question about whether a president who should meet the leaders of North Korea, Iran and Venezuela, Mr Obama said he would do it in the first year. Ms Clinton said that she would only go into talks if she was sure something positive might come from it.
Rob Porter, of California, asked Ms Clinton if she could define liberal and would she describe herself as a liberal. She said liberal had been turned on its head in the last 40 years and had become identified with big government rather than freedom of the individual. "I prefer progressive," she said.
Another questioner expressed concern about the prospect of either a Clinton or Bush being in the White House for 28 years if she wins. She produced the biggest laugh of the night when she replied: "It is a problem ... that Bush was elected in 2000."
Each of the candidates had a short video of their own shown during the debate but they all stuck to a traditional format. |
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