The Unasked Question in the Presidential Debate

I thought the 1st Presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry last night was excellent as debates go. It was substantive and gave both candidates an opportunity to discuss national security issues.

Overall, I thought that John Kerry did a little better than I expected. He was more focused and less demagogic than usual and he made his case. I thought George Bush did a little worse than I expected. He missed opportunities to brag about his accomplishements and to sharpen the differences with his opponent.

I think George Bush's main mistake was in answering the questions that were asked, rather than answering the questions that he would want to ask to focus on his accomplishments. The questions were heavily geared toward events of the last year including the War in Iraq. They were very light on the issue of 9/11 and the radical restructuring of our government and our foreign policy that Bush achieved in his first 2/12 years. I would have advised Bush to include a reference to 9/11 in his answer to every question that was asked about Iraq.

In fact, to me anyway, the unasked question in the debate was:

How have the events of 9/11 affected your view of national security policy, homeland security, and foreign relations?

George W. Bush could have knocked that one out of the park and scored a knockout victory. It's too bad that Jim Lehrer didn't ask it.