We have all kinds of debates for candidates for president, but what about for their wives? (Or spouses: I'm not trying to be sexist here: there are only men running again, though.) The First Lady has a lot of pull during a presidency, and many policies come out of what they want to do. Remember the push for "Hillarycare"? That led to the HMO system we all have today. Remember the "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" warning labels on music albums? (They were like an R-rating for a horror movie back then: everyone wanted one of those stickers, because it made kids want to buy the records more, since it made them seem forbidden.) That was from Tipper Gore. (Okay, she wasn't the First Lady, she was the Second Lady; but they can have a debate too. And they should!) And you know about the health food initiative initiated by Michelle Obama, right? How do we know the First Lady isn't influencing all policy decisions in the White House? Maybe they are! In fact, for all we really know, maybe the presidential candidates are merely ciphers for their wives' policies, and that's why they look so incompetent trying to explain their policies (or are so cagy about what they are) so frequently.
That's why we need a First Lady debate! We can find out what they believe in, and see how dominant or passive-aggressive they are, and so how likely they might be to dominate policy. Then we can weigh both people together as a package: one's weakness may be the other's strength, etc: we don't really know without the pressure of a debate. Plus, as Candy Crowley said today on CNN, it's more stressful for the wives to watch on the sidelines than it is for the candidates who are in the debate, so it's just sadistic to not let them debate too. And just to make it less stressful for everyone, the debates could be simultaneous, and just broadcast one after the other.
And, as an added bonus, Michelle Obama and Ann Romney could try to 'out-poor' each other in person, like they did in their respective party convention speeches. (Remember the eating-dinner-off-an-ironing-board stuff? Always my favorite campaign strategy: trying to use one-downmanship for out-modesting their respective beginnings. It's just so much fun to watch the super-rich ruling elite play down to us all like that: what a laugh riot!)
