Most of the youtube questioners were young. They tended to be very informed. One guy......I think he must have been in high school.......not only had a great question but his presentation of that question was excellent. Very impressive!
Angry and mocking, YouTube users quiz Democrat hopefuls
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Published: 25 July 2007
It may not have greatly affected the dynamics of the 2008 Presidential race but a groundbreaking Democratic candidates' debate has made official what has long been evident here: the free-for-all of the internet - in this case the video sharing site YouTube - is something none of them can ignore.
For two hours on Monday, the eight declared candidates fielded questions in the form of YouTube clips submitted by ordinary Americans. The tone shifted from earnest to anguished, from angry to mocking, from deadly serious to outright humorous. The subjects, though filtered by CNN, provided the most varied and unvarnished fare yet in this debate-laden campaign season.
In one clip, two lesbians pleaded for the right to marry. In others, the candidates were quizzed about reparations for slavery, how families should cope with Alzheimer's sufferers, the iniquities of the voting system - and, in the case of Ms Clinton, whether the US didn't deserve better than the prospect of up to 28 years of unbroken rule by a Bush or a Clinton, were she to win the race.
On a lighter note, a man strumming a guitar sang a ditty about his problems with the tax system, ending with a plea for "one of y'all" to give him a Scooter Libby-like pardon for a recent parking ticket.
The answers, predictably, were mostly less illuminating that the questions.
After a nod to the original topic, candidates usually veered back to the comfort zone of standard campaign pitches. Front-runner Hillary Clinton touted her experience, her closest rival Barack Obama sought to project freshness and innovation, while John Edwards, the party's defeated vice-presidential candidate in 2004, was as populist as ever.
Almost all said they would be happy to serve as President, even if the salary was the minimum national wage (which increased as of yesterday to $5.85, or £2.85, an hour). Only Denis Kucinich, the leftwing Congressman from Ohio and rank outsider, replied an unequivocal yes when asked by a black questioner whether the US should pay reparations for slavery.
Who won? The spotlight as usual was on Ms Clinton and Mr Obama. As usual too, they squared off over Iraq, with the first-term Illinois senator none too subtly reminding her of her vote in 2002 authorising the war, while Ms Clinton implicitly accused her rival of naivety in pledging to meet the President of Iran and Syria during his first year in the White House. "I don't want to be used for propaganda purposes," she declared.
Asked by a student from Kansas whether she was not "satisfactorily feminine," the former First Lady drew laughs by replying that "Obviously I couldn't run as anything other than a woman."
But, she added in the next breath, "I'm not running because I'm a woman... but because I think I'm the most experienced and qualified person to hit the ground running in January 2009."
To the uncommitted observer, Ms Clinton seemed to dominate, despite the barbs from Mr Obama and Mr Edwards. If Mr Obama sometimes sounded a little lightweight, the same could not be said of Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, but so far stuck in the "second tier" of candidates.
Though a fierce critic of the war, Mr Biden rounded on those who called for a pull-out of US troops from Iraq by next spring. Every military man knew an orderly withdrawal would take at least a year, and probably considerably longer.
And Mr Biden drew arguably the biggest laugh of the evening when a man cradling his "baby," a semi automatic assault weapon, asked for the candidates' views on gun control. "If that's his baby, he needs help," Mr Biden declared.
Video voters
* Zach Kempf from Provo, Utah: We have a bunch of leaders who can't seem to do their job. What's going to make you any more effectual, beyond all the platitudes and stuff we're used to hearing?
* Snowman with a snow child: I've been growing concerned that global warming, the single most important issue to snowmen of our country, is being neglected. As President what will you do to ensure that my son will lead a full and happy life?
* Jackie Broyles from Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Mainstream media seems awfully interested in old Al Gore, below, these days. Is he losing weight? What's it say in his book? Is he still worried about all the ice? They really want to know if Al Gore's going to run again. Yes. Well, what we want to know is does that hurt y'all's feelings?
* Melissa from San Luis Opispo, California: In recent years, there's been so much controversy regarding dangling chads, then no paper trail in electronic systems. If I can go out into any state and get the same triple grande, nonfat, no-foam vanilla latte from Starbucks, why can't I go to any state and vote the same way?
* Democratic precinct chief from Illinois: If you are elected and then re-elected, the country will have gone through 28 years with either a Bush or a Clinton in the White House. How would electing you, a Clinton, constitute the type of change in Washington so many people in the heartland are yearning for?
* Cecilia Smith and Asanti Wilkins from Pennsylvania: Congress seems to never have a problem when giving themselves a raise. But when comes to increasing the minimum wage, they had a problem. If you're elected, would you be willing to do this service for the next four years and be paid the national minimum wage?
news.independent.co.uk |
