Ask the Real Questions

I'm kind of torn on this article from Media Matters from America on the last Presidential Debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. On the one hand, I totally agree that the debate was awful. On the other hand, I'm not sure I agree with their diagnosis of what should have been asked.

Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos didn't ask Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton whether they would continue the Bush administration's torture policies, or their views on wiretapping Americans without a warrant or on the validity of Dick Cheney's assertions that he is a separate branch of government.

And yet -- after yet another presidential debate came and went without a moderator asking a single question about some of the most serious issues of our time, issues that go to the heart of who we are as a nation -- some in the media defended ABC's focus on political controversies by asserting that substantive issues have already been hashed and rehashed.

Those are key Constitutional questions. But I don't know that a debate on those issues would be very revealing. Rather I'd rather see McCain get asked those questions; he'd tied himself pretty closely to a rule breaking and constitution ignoring administration. How does he feel about rule breaking and constitution ignoring?

On the other hand asking Clinton and Obama those questions just gives them an opportunity to condemn the Bush White House - which they both have done in the past. It doesn't really go to the differences between these candidates.