A Night In The Life Of A Kindergarten Teacher

I can see the frustration kindergarten teachers face when trying to control whining children. Even though Chris Wallace is no kindergarten teacher, it very much seemed so last night at the first presidential debate.

Wallace was the moderator at this first debate and of course people are going to have their own opinions on how he could’ve controlled the debate or done a better job. The truth is how can you control two children, I mean adults, who lack communication skills?

According to The New York Times, Wallace states he didn’t realize that the president was not going to follow the debate’s guidelines and there was simply no way of knowing that interrupting was going to be his strategy the entire night.

Many people tuned into the debate and while I personally was hoping to hear the plans that each candidate had for the topics presented, what we got instead was them talking over each other the entire night and not answering the questions. If they did answer them, it was difficult to comprehend what they were even saying.

During the interview, Wallace said “First to say ‘please don’t interrupt,’ then ‘please obey the rules,’ and third, ‘ this isn’t serving the country well.’ those are all tough steps at real time, at the moment, on that stage.”

In my opinion Wallace did his best at keeping his composure, the disrespect and unprofessionalism two people who are running for the highest position there could ever be is hard to hear and watch. It feels like a joke to the people watching or at least for me to see that they never fully addressed any issues that were asked.

It is no surprise that social media platforms quickly tweeted or posted about the debate. Many of the posts that I saw were saying “I would’ve been a better moderator,” “Why didn’t they just turn off the microphone when it wasn’t their turn?” and so on.

The truth is, it is easier said than done, not only do the candidates have rules to follow, but also the moderators. Wallace made it clear during this interview that cutting off the audio feed of a presidential candidate has its consequences that people don’t realize. Not to mention that backlash that would arise from the millions of Americans who support each candidate.

He also mentioned, “Even if the presidents microphone had been shut, he still could have continued to interrupt, and it might well have been picked up on Biden’s microphone, and it still would have disrupted the proceedings in the hall.”

Having to ask two “professional” men to be respectful and to wait their turn more than twice is ridiculous.

I believe that if it was anyone else being the moderator this first round, it would have been a complete disaster. Wallace was the guinea pig and I hope that Steve Scully and Kristen Welker, who are next in line to be moderators, learn something from this first round.

If this continues, then I have completely lost faith in whether any of the candidates truly care about the people and this country.