Great sighs of relief wafted across the audience from the other candidates when Brokaw asked Sharpton about the confederate flag still on state property, even though the interim solution in effect removed it from prominence. Al was blunt about it; it’s an insult and should be removed permanently even from private property. Only Kucinich offered he was not staying over night in South Carolina because of it and it was great that he was peeved and stated that it was time to get over divisiveness and for the nation to heal. Thus, the others, particularly Dean, were spared the issue. I believe Brokaw was wrong trying to set fire to an otherwise boring debate. Extraneous issues such as the flag, guns, and gay marriage serve no purpose when there are so many pressing issues.

The format of the debate controlled by “journalists” is too confining. There should be a panel of experts in sundry fields armed with targeted questions on such matters as the war, foreign policy, prioritizing national values, the economy and the debt and directed to all the candidates in order to compare the responses on each of the issues. For instance, why is each against the Bush tax cuts and what should be the alternatives? Or if the administration had it all wrong in going to war, why did not the candidates make a serious attempt to refute it before it got out of hand? Bush and Clinton wary perceptions notwithstanding, it does not require rocket science to instinctively know that Saddam was a disoriented lame duck since the Gulf War. Monday morning quarterbacks we can do without.