Anderson, editorLeverage: Political, economic and social frameworks” has taught at five universities and ran as the Democratic candidate for the Maryland State Assembly in 2016.
About 25 years ago, the eminent political scientist and sociologist Seymour Martin Lipsett invited me to lunch at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. At the time, I was a young scholar teaching a variety of courses in ethics and political philosophy at George Washington University. He asked me, “What do you think are the most important qualities needed to be president?”
I thought about it for about 30 seconds and replied, “Give me a great speech.”
He said, “No, it's talkative.”
We discussed socializing at length. We agreed that it has a lot to do with relationship building with members of your party and the opposition, advocacy, support building, negotiation and leadership. Socializing is a private act, not something you see on TV or, nowadays, on your cell phone.
One thing we didn't discuss is his ability to perform well in debates. The truth is, aside from presidential debates, the President of the United States never has to debate anyone, either privately or publicly.
When does the US President have to debate anyone during his term in office? Does the President debate with Congress in a formal setting? Does the President debate with Congress in the Oval Office? Does the President debate with his Cabinet, ambassadors, foreign leaders?
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Of course, presidents have to debate with others, even heated ones. They have to negotiate, listen, and persuade. An extreme example would be Lyndon Johnson's use of physical, political, and psychological control over members of Congress to gain support for his legislation. The “Johnson treatment” is the opposite of flattery, but it's not an argument either.
Whether a presidential candidate is a good debater actually tells us very little about whether he or she would be a good president. Even without staffers preparing questions and attacks, we see certain skills at play, such as the ability to address an audience for a minute or two and think on the fly. We can see how knowledgeable the candidate is on various topics, but most viewers are not very knowledgeable about many of the issues being debated.
After all, a debate isn't really a debate, especially when there are five or ten people on stage; you can learn a lot more when there are two. But it's worth emphasizing that, at best, the ability of one person to win a debate demonstrates a skill that isn't among most of the core skills a president must use while in office.
Lipsett's principle — that the most important quality a president must have is sociability — is of course not tested in a debate, which is instructive in itself, because it suggests that, at least in Lipsett's opinion, the most important skill for a president is not one that is assessed in a presidential debate.
The recent debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden certainly had some things worth watching, not least that Trump was energetic but many of his comments were gross exaggerations and lies, and that Biden, who has a stutter, had a cold before the debate, and was “jet lag” from various domestic and international trips prior to the debate, was able to successfully make many factual and moral points over the course of 90 minutes.
The presidential debates are designed to be tuned in so that every American can watch them after work, but they still put many people who don't feel well between 9:00 pm and 10:30 pm, especially those over 70, at a disadvantage. Most presidents spend that time sitting or lying down in the family quarters of the White House.
The overall format of the presidential debates is terrible – it's poorly timed, showcases the wrong skills, and provides an opportunity for media hype. We should either end these debates or allow the Commission on Presidential Debates to continue changing the format. Some of the recent changes made to the CNN debates are good, especially turning off the microphones when the candidates' time is up. If there is a second debate, it should at least be held in the early evening or on a Sunday afternoon.
