Sergey Podlesnykh/Staff Writer
After the first Presidential debate answered few questions about either candidate’s program for the next four years, my expectations for the Vice-Presidential debate were unreasonably high. Undoubtedly, the Harris-Pence face-off looked more like a civilized debate. It probably even seemed that both speakers chose to play it safe, however Wednesday night did little to sway undecided voters and simply set up the stage for the next clash of septuagenarians.
The fact that both candidates evaded their questions most of the time struck me the most. Mike Pence did a particularly great job at it, the President with his blunt approach could use some pointers from his right-hand man. On a side note, Pence took some pointers from Biden who addressed Americans directly last week. The acting Vice President was pushing the agenda more effectively than Trump, who simply made his debate personal. Kamala Harris had an upper hand going into Wednesday’s debate with plenty of great cards to play, unfortunately she failed to adequately use them all, sometimes resorting to similar evasion techniques.
However, in the intricate dance of exchanging niceties with the same breath as mutual blaming, Harris looked much better.
However, in the intricate dance of exchanging niceties with the same breath as mutual blaming, Harris looked much better. She was more articulate through her direct addressing of Americans, and successfully appealed to the audience’s emotions. Within her two-minute time slots, Harris was sometimes able to concisely present three-four arguments, blame the current administration and highlight one of her personal strengths. By contrast, Pence would go over time, still trying to finish his pitch and often used his first minute to address the previous issue.
Harris’ highlight of her personal qualities and accomplishments set her apart from Pence and gave the impression that Biden was bringing aboard a strong team of professionals, starting with his competent Vice President. In contrast, Pence’s rhetoric mostly relied on the competence of the incumbent, swiftly taking his own role as the Vice President out of the equation.
The Wednesday debate didn’t give us any jaw-dropping moments like the “stand back and stand by” commentary made last week. For the most part, we heard all the familiar and expected arguments from both sides to the point where one of the major highlights from the Utah debate was a fly landing on Mike Pence’s head. As the camera zoomed in on it, I realized it might indeed be more interesting than the somewhat dry discussion.
It is safe to say it was a night of missed chances. Like Trump last week, Pence failed to use their strongest argument – economy. Instead, he went on to blame the Obama-Biden economy during 2016 and rather than concentrate on the current pandemic, he brought up the swine flu. Those were unimpressive softballs, easily and effectively countered by Harris. And according to the acting Vice President, “the thing about climate change is that climate is changing.” This ‘captain obvious’ moment is not that surprising if we remember Pence’s message from the Republican Convention: “We will make America great again, again.”
However, Pence wasn’t missing his chances alone. Harris failed to confidently counter the question of “packing” the Supreme Court. It was easily the strongest moment of the night for Pence. Even as a mere observer I saw that question coming up and I wasn’t the one who spent the last week getting ready for one of the most important debates in my political career. Hence, a somewhat vague response from Harris ultimately allowed her to dodge the question, which baffled me. Additionally, Harris failed to press Pence with one of the most anticipated questions of the night which was the articulate denouncement of white supremacists. Arguably, she was going high, but the question remained unasked, adding to the tally of missed chances.
Both Harris and Pence revealed some of the steps their candidates plan to take after the election which we can mark as a win for the American public. Little information is better than no information at all. Nevertheless, both Harris and Pence avoided the question of US-China relations and promptly changed the subject, resorting to taking jabs at other issues. The same evasion from both speakers was particularly frustrating when asked about the future of Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday night, Pence sounded much better than Trump last week. Harris dominated the discussion and looked better than Pence, but still didn’t live up to her potential. Alas, both speakers spent most of the ninety minutes attacking their strawmen and bringing the discussion to an expected stalemate. I don’t see this debate significantly tipping the scales of the upcoming election, with any slight movement likely attributed to a margin of error.
The main conclusion from the Vice-Presidential debate? It was important in exposing the areas that Trump and Biden need to pay more attention to in the final month of the Presidential race. And if the positive trend towards constructive discussion persists, hopefully we will have at least one winner – the American public.
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Featured image by Element5 Digital on Unsplash.