Last night's second debate was the best possible argument for never having Tom Brokaw back as a moderator. Brokaw managed to harp repeatedly about the time alloted for answers without doing anything to enforce those limits. The one time Brokaw tried to move on when Obama wanted to say more, Brokaw backed down quickly when Obama confronted the issue. Personally, I do not care if the time limits got followed closely. The issue is who would be a better President, not who follows the time rules more correctly. I did think it constantly jarring for Brokaw to raise the issue over and over.
Brokaw also interjected his own questions into the mix rather than letting the audience ask questions as should have happened. Brokaw also prescreened the questions, so that the totality of the questions were those that interested Brokaw and not those which interested the audience. That was not a town hall meeting. Rather it was Tom Brokaw following a script that he selected. Indeed, the funniest moment of the night came when the candidates blocked Brokaw's teleprompter and he was totally at a loss for words. It truly shows the level of Brokaw's intelligence and ability that he was unable to continue on to a conclusion without berating Obama and McCain for standing in the wrong spot so as to block his view.
One thing is certain: the contrast between Jim Lehrer in the first debate and Tom Brokaw in the second one was much more stark than that between Obama and McCain.
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