Participatory Democracy

I'll admit, I was skeptical of tonight's CNN/YouTube Democratic debate, in which all questions arrived in the form of uploaded home videos. (The moderator was Anderson Cooper, America's Default Hipster Anchor. Four years ago, he hosted a CNN/MTV debate at Faneuil Hall.) I still associate homegrown YouTube content with Sanjaya-related hunger strikers, lip-synching nerds, and people who blow up Marshmallow Peeps in their microwaves. On the other hand, especially at this stage in the election cycle, I welcome anything that takes the candidates off their relentless sloganeering.

As it turned out, this was no Marshmallow Peep of a debate. The questions, selected by CNN, weren't any less substantive than they would have been if a straightlaced anchor had been asking. They just were delivered a little more cheekily. Which was good for entertainment and democracy -- it was nice to really see the vitriol over Iraq, or the frustration over No Child Left Behind. I also enjoyed the out-of-left-field-but-still-important queries, such as whether women should have to register for selective service (most candidates said "yes") and whether there might be too many Bushes and Clintons in office (Hillary handled it smoothly).

In the spirit of the medium, we were treated to a global warming question from a snowman. But that was about as radical as it got. As we drew to the end of the second hour, I found myself wishing for more of that crazy YouTube magic. Maybe they should have traded Anderson for that Ask a Ninja guy.