In class a few days ago, we were talking about presidential debate moderators. This year, Jim Lehrer, 78, moderated for a 12th time. After saying that 2008 would be his last debate, the new format brought him back once again. As Brian Stelter of the New York times explains, the new format "allowed for six 15-minute conversations, each starting with a question and two-minute answers from each candidate." It appealed to Mr. Lehrer because as a moderator he tries to stay out of the way and let the candidates speak. Unfortunately, Mr. Lehrer may have stood a little too far out of the way at the 2012 debate and has been greatly criticized for his performance. It seemed as though he just did not have enough control. Throughout the debate when Lehrer would speak, President Obama and Mitt Romney would often times either ignore him, or talk back to him and continue on. For an example, watch the following video:
Personally, I think that the moderator plays a very important role and it is necessary that they stay in control in order for the debate to run fairly and smoothly. In this case, it seemed that Mitt Romney was more in control of the debate than Lehrer was, which could be argued to have given Romney an edge up. President Obama, as seen above, interjected Lehrer as well, but not nearly as often as his opponent. If the moderator does not stand their ground, as witnessed on Wednesday, then the candidates will pretty much disregard them. Also, although Lehrer had said that as a moderator he tries to stay out of the way of the candidates, I think it would have been a much more fair and informative debate if he had asked the candidates more specific questions, instead of letting them get away with some very general answers. What do you think the role of the moderator is? What are your thoughts on Lehrer's performance at the presidential debate?
On a side note, the next debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney on October 16 will be moderated by a woman, Candy Crowley, for the first time in 20 years. I am very interested to see how having a woman moderator will differ the debate from what Americans have watched for the past 20 years.
To watch more of Lehrer from the first 2012 debate click here:
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