Debating the debates: An excellent idea from Arianna Huffington

As I was perusing various news & opinion sites in my off time, I came across a very interesting point made by Ms. Huffington of the Huffington Post. She notes that there was much to-do about Romney sneaking in notes to the first debate (he didn't, it was hankie), and then asks the obvious question: "Why does it matter if they have notes?"

"When is a sitting president ever going to be faced with a situation in which he's going to need to make an important decision without availing himself of any outside information? Information is good -- indeed, very few crises in our history have come about because a president wanted to consider too much outside information."

Being President isn't an improv comedy show where having all the information in your mind is important. Actually, quite the opposite. It's just as important to know where to get information and who to ask if you don't know as it is to know the information yourself.

She goes on to suggest we actually get rid of the entire debate process as it stands entirely, and replace it with a decision making exercise.

"...what about at least one debate that is structured to resemble the decision-making process a president would actually go through in office? For starters, they could have access to all the information they want. It's fun to see how a candidate responds to a zinger, but it'd be much more instructive to see how a candidate goes about seeking information that he doesn't know. So give them web access. And give them a phone -- to borrow from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, we could have a "Phone an Advisor" option. Or we could have candidates bring their advisors on stage with them. The moderator could throw out a difficult hypothetical; the candidates would consult their respective advisors and come back with an answer. That is, after all, how the presidency actually works."

I imagine this running like Iron Chef, with the Chef going from adviser to adviser getting input, consulting prepared information dumps, etc. Hell, we could even have commentators analyzing who he chose to bring with him, what his process is, and at the end the two candidates get to propose their solution.

It's an intriguing idea. It'll never happen, of course, but it's interesting nonetheless.