Joe Biden's respect for the debate clock seemed Pavlovian, bordering on fearful
The traditional presidential-debate format does not lend itself to thoughtful discussion, and attempts to impose order, however well intentioned, often backfire. During this week’s Democratic primary debates, for instance, CNN warned candidates to limit their initial answers to 60 seconds, with an additional 30 seconds allowed for rebuttals.
For high school debate coaches and public speaking experts, Biden broke two cardinal rules: first, avoid filler words, and second, always finish your thought, even if it means running over time. As Harvard public speaking expert, filler words may be a natural tic in human speech, signaling that the speaker is trying to verbalize a thought in real time, but they “often detract from the listener’s ability to understand a particular message.
Number two, we, in fact, insisted that we change the rules that police engage in. They had to have—we provided for body cameras. We made sure—there were a lot of things that were changed in the process, but 38,000 people in the federal system were released under the system.And so the fact is that there’s a lot we’ve done. But here’s the deal. The fact is that we’re talking about things that occurred a long, long time ago. And now, all of a sudden, you know—I find it fascinating.
At other times, however, Biden’s deference to the countdown clock seemed to be a crutch. Rather than look presidential , Biden appeared unassertive, even meek, as more aggressive candidates fought through the timer and against the moderators to close their arguments, no matter how forcefully Jake Tapper or
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