LAPEL PIN POLITICS

With Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama locked in a close race for the party’s presidential nomination, the pair’s last televised debate should have been a time to clarify the policy differences between the two candidates. Instead, ABC turned the debate into a wandering discussion of flag lapel pins, the Weather Underground and patriotism that left viewers with little useful information.

George Stephanopoulos, who moderated the debate along with Charles Gibson, defended what he called “tough and fair and appropriate and relevant” questions. “The questions we asked … are being debated around the political world every day,” he told the Los Angeles Times.

Maybe in the political world, but not in the real world.

The lagging economy, the housing crisis, jobs and the war in Iraq are Americans’ top concerns, according to the most recent poll conducted by CBS News and The New York Times. The poll found that 81 percent of Americans thought the United States was headed in the wrong direction, the highest since the television network began asking the question in 1986.

So, Messrs. Stephanopoulos and Gibson preceded to ask “electability” questions for an hour. Probing candidates’ character and judgment are certainly important parts of any campaign. Questions about the patriotism of Sen. Obama’s controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright, why the senator doesn’t wear a flag lapel pin and why Sen. Clinton mischaracterized a visit to Bosnia didn’t accomplish this.

Take the flag pin, for example. “I revere the American flag,” Sen. Obama said before recalling, for the umpteenth time, his rise from being born to a teenage mom and raised by grandparents from Kansas.

He went on to say that he would show his patriotism by how he treats veterans and how he gets U.S. troops out of Iraq. So what did the moderators ask about Iraq? Simply whether the candidates would keep to their pledges to withdraw American troops – Sen. Clinton said she would begin the process within 60 days of taking office and Sen. Obama would complete the withdrawal within 16 months – no matter what happened. Both said they would. There was no real follow-up as to what would happen if conditions deteriorated as U.S. troops left, or if other countries began to fill the vacuum left by the U.S. departure.

What about the economy, the public’s top concern? The moderators asked several questions about taxes, specifically the capital gains tax. Nothing was asked about job creation, health insurance, home foreclosures or other aspects of the economy that need close attention from the next occupant of the White House.

The nearly 11 million people who watched the Philadelphia debate now know that Sen. Obama thinks his pastor loves America and that Sen. Clinton was confused about what happened in Bosnia. Sadly, they don’t know whether either candidate’s policy on Iraq or their pledges not to raise taxes are realistic.