Do Debates Really Matter?

 If you think about it....you don't see 'real' debates that much anymore.  Occasionally, two figures will stage one....but these are usually people with the talent to debate.  

If you'd had some one-on-one debate with Barak Obama and Mitt Romney....with just a simple group of questions by one moderator....it would have marginally sold either guy (neither have any decent debate skills).  Same to be said with Obama and McCain.  

George Bush with anyone (Gore or Kerry)?  Kerry might have at least done a minimum-required performance, while Bush would have failed miserably (he was inept at debates).

Years ago, I was at a base where the local university offered up a debate class.  Even the base education folks were shocked...barely seven folks signed up for the class.  The class end?  You had to arrive one evening....get the topic of the debate, get 30 minutes to think about your 'talk', and then debate for 20 minutes with the instructor.   I think if you offered this type of situation to most college kids today...out of a thousand....probably fewer than twenty would accept this.

I've given thought to just how many Senators (100) have true debate skills.  I'd suggest that fewer than twenty have the minimum necessary to debate.  

So to the question....do debates really matter?  If you only have marginally capable people with the skills, then NO....debates don't matter.  You wouldn't want to have some dream-debate with George Bush and Hillary Clinton....where you'd fall asleep by the 12th minute.  The same is true with half the idiots from Fox News and CNN....meeting up and having a debate.