In reflecting on last night’s second presidential debate, I found myself wondering if incumbency isn’t a two-edged sword. On the one hand incumbency automatically gives you a soap box. Whether it’s visiting people left homeless by the hurricanes in Florida or signing a bill into law in Iowa, what the president does is news. It’s pretty easy for the president to get more coverage from the news media. And you’ve got a record to run on. Your opponent has theories and plans. That record conveys on the incumbent a credibility that a challenger must run against directly.
But there are perils, too. Front and center there’s the record. Every president has failures as well as successes. And questions like the one asked last night in St. Louis: “Name your three biggest mistakes as president”. Dodge it and you’re arrogant—you never acknowledge you’ve made a mistake. Answer it and you give endless ammunition to your opponents. Or make enemies (as Bush implied in his answer last night). The prudent politician will dodge.
