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Spectacle Masquerading As Debate

It was hard to listen to Monday's presidential debate without a sinking feeling about how low the level of public discourse has sunk. A candidate who admits he hasn't paid federal income taxes. Who shouts, "I've got the temperament to be president."

It was spectacle masquerading as debate, at least on one side. On the other side, it was business as usual. Two people with such different world views -- and, yes, temperaments -- that they seem to come from different planets.

Trump sounds like a regular guy who's frustrated with business as usual and wants to make things change. He's not afraid to be rude, and he's vague on the specifics.

In the 2008 election, the change candidate was Barack Obama, who beat a number of establishment Democrats in the primary -- including Hillary Clinton. In contrast to Trump, though, Obama had a lot of ideas about the changes he wanted to see happen.

The irony is that, while we fixate on the presidential candidates, focusing obsessively on their quirks, personalities, and positions, we forget about Congress and the Supreme Court. They just don't seem as interesting. Yet both wield so much power and can stop a president in his or her tracks.

That's what happened to Obama's agenda of hope and change. Some of it happened, but a lot of it didn't. And much of the reason for that was a Republican Congress and a conservative Supreme Court that were determined to make sure his agenda did not succeed.

I'm Deborah Booth, and that's my perspective.

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