A More Civil Debate

I, and I believe many other Americans, had set extremely low expectations for this debate. Given how unprofessional and uncivil the Presidential debate was, there was little reason to believe that the Vice Presidential debate could be better. And this was exacerbated by President Trump’s hospitalization due to Coronavirus, which made this debate even more important. To be honest, I was surprised that it went all right given the precedent and the stakes. The two candidates, while still not completely following the rules, were more civil and better behaved than the actual presidential candidates.

While I do not admire either party, I found the Vice Presidential candidates to have acted respectably. (Or, at least more so than the frontrunners). Between the two candidates, Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris was on the offensive while Vice President Mike Pence, in my opinion, was on the defensive. Regardless they both actually debated, without bickering or name calling each other. Granted they both interrupted and went over their allotted time during the evening, more so Mr. Pence but Ms. Harris did so, too. In my opinion, Harris came out on top. She held the advantage from the start of the debate when she mentioned that Mr. Pence and President Donald Trump knew about the severity of the Coronavirus in late January, before the outbreak and did nothing to combat it. Mr. Pence deflected, and did not really answer as to why he and President Trump decided to do so.

I was surprised by the rational tone of this debate, and I hope this is at least the minimum the Presidential candidates can hold themselves to because so far both Vice Presidential candidates appear far more civil than their frontrunners. I am not sold on either candidate. I don’t approve of the divide the two-party system has caused in the United States.