Pandemic rules hurt debate

It sure looks like that presidential debate in Cleveland the other night was another victim of the pandemic.

President Donald Trump has what you might call a flamboyant personality and that had a major influence, but the setup was designed for chaos.

There were only 70 people in the audience and they were spread out according to social distancing rules, greatly reducing whatever crowd impact might normally develop. And the major television networks all got their feeds from one source, which I suspect was supplied by the debate commission.

Ordinarily a presidential debate is attended by a large audience with people seated side by side. That way the attendees react to what the debaters are saying and the audience reacts like a crowd. That often can be heard by the debaters and influences their behavior to an extent.

When multiple camera crews are allowed in, the major networks generally have their own teams involved and that shows the world what is going on in the debate. If one of the debaters gets too flamboyant, shall we say, the network crews can either ignore him or focus in on him. That coverage influences the national audience and its impression of how the debate actually went.

The result was pretty awful on Tuesday and President Trump, whose tendency toward flamboyance is often somewhat problematic, came across as something of an overbearing jerk. Despite what his critics might think, he is not that. If he were such a person it’s unlikely he could be as successful in public life as he has been.

The requirements placed on the debate by the pandemic — and the apparent negative results — are yet one more reason to hate the coronavirus. Millions of Americans who are hunkering down are getting woefully bored by the lack of interaction with other people and their inability to go to places they enjoy.

Those who can are trying to get out and visit parks and wild country, places where they can walk, enjoy the scenery and the wild creatures that inhabit it. That kind of recreation is a good idea and an enjoyable option whenever you can get to it. The only thing lacking is interaction with other people

One thing I miss is getting to visit my favorite fitness facility, which is closed. I know some fitness operators are open and many people are visiting those. But since my favorite is closed I am keeping fit with 15-minute daily workouts using stretch bands. I do them while watching a video given me by a fitness professional.

It looks like the presidential debate commission will be making changes to the format for the next match-off between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on October 15 in Miami.

One obvious change that needs to be made is to cut off the microphone of one contender when the other candidate is using his two-minutes of speaking time. That should reduce, if not eliminate, the ability of one strong personality to interrupt and dominate his opponent.

It would also be helpful if only one candidate at a time were shown on camera. Showing only one candidate would allow the audience to focus on what that person was saying. When both are shown the one with the dead mike can still mug for the camera and influence those watching.

The big risk with those rules would be that the debate could be horribly boring. What we really need is to get this pandemic over with.

Tom Brennan is an Anchorage columnist and author of five books. He was a reporter/columnist for The Anchorage Times and an editor and columnist at The Voice of The Times.