See Ya Dubya

I love living in Austin where you have all kinds of people, most of them just itching to spout off on any topic (and I’m one of them to some degree). The latest topic is the Clinton/Obama debate hosted by CNN on the University of Texas campus on February 21^st. At first the TX Democratic Party said attendance would be by invitation only. Personally being a Republican, this didn’t bother me, especially when I can watch it on CNN if so inclined. Plus you can go to the watch party if you have $50 to blow. However, there were a LOT of people, both Democrats & Republicans, who started screaming and yelling, some having an outright hissy fit complete with indignant outrage, that it should be in a larger venue so that the public can attend, claiming a conspiracy with CNN & the Democratic Party. Quite a few posted their opinions on the Austin American Statesman website. Of course some just took the opportunity to rant and rave about other things, but that’s par for the course in these things.

Rantings aside for the moment, I actually like what Susan Binford, Assistant Dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs said about it after they announced the release of 100 general public tickets. She said “First and foremost, this is a television show.” After I got over my self-amusing thoughts of “So does that mean it will be purely entertainment?”, I started looking at their position. I agree that larger venues have more logistical and production problems, i.e. security, audio that isn’t as good as it would be with a smaller venue, etc… All in all, I think it’s being handled the best it can be given the short notice in pulling together a production of this magnitude.

I think one of the biggest problems is that many see the target audience as strictly a Texas audience, or even an Austin audience, when in fact it’s a nationwide audience as are all Presidential Debates in this era of quicker, easier dissemination of information. The candidates are in the news every day for some issue or another, ensuring plenty of access to the candidates views & positions on the issues. People need to look at the larger picture and stop being so self-focused when it comes to this debate.And back to the topic of ranting for a minute, I think that the people who took out their anger and frustration on the people who answer the phones at the Travis County Democratic Party Office were way out of line. It’s not like they made the venue decision, and it’s not their fault, so don’t yell at them.

I’m sure people will continue to bash the TX Democratic Party, CNN, as well as UT and the LBJ School given their involvement, while throwing in the GOP and their candidates just because they can. They’ll also continue claiming some kind of conspiracy to prevent public access to the candidates, but it’s not. That’s all there is to it, and they need to get over it.

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