A Big Step Forward -- the Cain/Gingrich Debate

Last night there was a debate between Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain in Texas. The subject of the debate was entitlement programs and how to preserve or reform them. The debate lasted an hour and a half; there were no time limits on the answers; there were no extraneous silly questions; the candidates did not try to put each other down. No, the substance of what was said was the key point. We had two major contenders for the presidency actually discussing plans for entitlement reform in public and in detail. It was the antithesis of the previous debates in the Republican campaign. In short, it was a wonderful gift to the American people. We got to hear what Cain and Gingrich actually propose to do with regard to one of the most pressing long term issues we face as a country: how to keep Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from going bankrupt.

The debate also gave us the opportunity to see much more of the essential nature of the candidates. The format did not permit either to just use little pre-planned statements or zingers without disclosing true substance. We did not hear about Bachmann's children or Huntsman's record in Utah. No one raised the legality of employees who worked for the company that mowed Romney's lawn a decade ago. There were essentially no swerves off topic like a typical Ron Paul discourse. Instead there was rational and thoughtful discussion. We got to see that Cain is a cheerful, good natured and extremely intelligent man who focuses on how one actually solves problems. Gingrich, on the other hand, displayed his enormous knowledge about the federal government and its inherent flaws. Gingrich showed his greatest strength, namely that he is able to think in new ways about federal problems. He is not constrained by the way things have always been in Washington. Watching Newt, I saw his intelligence and imagination at work.

The real winners at this debate were the American people. The event was telecast on CSPAN, so the audience was probably smaller than that for any other debate. That is too bad since America deserves a debate where the viewers are treated like intelligent adults rather than the audience of the Cartoon Network.

As between the two candidates, I have to say that Gingrich was the clear winner. His performance made clear that he is a man who, were he to become president, would be ready to move forward with a clear and positive vision on day one in office. He would also be able to bring the "change" that Obama promised but then failed to deliver. Cain, however, also acquited himself well. The problem revealed in the debate for Cain was that he may be susceptible to being misled by advisers once in office since his level of knowledge about the country's problems is much less than that of Gingrich.

I sincerely hope that there are more of these types of debates as the campaign moves forward. It would be good to add Mitt Romney into the mix so that we could contrast the top three candidates.