YouTube Debate

This blog is subject to all the same rules that CYD is subject to in terms of endorsements and communications, so I am not going to try to talk about the substance of the debate last night for fear of not giving equal time or forgetting a candidate entirely. So, I'll just say that I thought all the candidates did well.

The performance of the candidates aside, I thought last night's debate was one of the best I've ever seen because of the questions that were asked. For those of you that didn't see it, all of the questions were asked via YouTube submissions from regular people all over the country. Obviously, we've all seen town halls where citizens are able to ask questions to the candidates, but for some reason those all strike me as wholly inauthentic. In contrast, the questions asked last night seemed to genuinely reflect the concerns of individuals across the country, and in many cases the questioners were able to put their own unique spin on the question to give their concerns true context and meaning.

My personal favorites, for vastly different reasons, were the guy with the largest semiautomatic weapon I've ever seen asking if his gun, aka his "baby," would be safe if the candidates became president; the lesbian couple sitting next to each other asking why they couldn't get married; and the snowman who was concerned about the future of his snowchild in light of global warming. I also appreciated that a few questioners appeared to be outright hostile to the Democratic Party. That's not something that you would get at a typical primary debate

Not to be lost in all of this is the fact that the YouTube medium gives young people an advantage in terms of having their concerns addressed. Although there was a wide disparity in the age of the questioners, it seemed to me that many more of the questioners were under 30 - far more than there would have been in a traditional debate format. As such, we should make a concerted effort to take advantage of these opportunities when they arise. CNN and YouTube are holding a similar debate for the Republicans on September 17th, so here's your chance to let the Republican candidates know what's on your mind (go ahead, they don't know you're a Democrat).