Tom Engelhardt: A Recipy for American Decline That No one Will Be Debating

With that jutting jaw of steel, think of him as the next Clark Kent, hence also Superman, promising to save our world. Opposite him, imagine Chris Pine as James T Kirk, commander of the rebooted USS Enterprise, promising repeatedly to boldly go where no man has gone before. Or call it Romney v Obama in "The Debates," and imagine them as what they are: two actors preparing to take on monumental TV roles this October. Both of them, like the performers they have to be in the coming productions that are by now essential to the entertainment spectacle of an American presidential campaign, have been rehearsing for months. They have conducted numerous "mock debates" in which Ohio Senator Rob Portman plays Obama for Romney, as he did in 2008 for John McCain, and Senator John Kerry, the Romney of the 2004 campaign, appropriately plays Romney for Team Obama. For these crucial roles, they must both become card carrying deficit slashers, tax cutters, retarders of government growth, job creators, preservers of Medicare, national security funders par excellence, fierce defenders of Israel, and men ready to do whatever must be done to prevent Iran from going nuclear. They must, that is, become perfect fictions. And though the debates are still upcoming, both presidential candidates recently had an out of town preview on 60 Minutes,where, interviewed separately, each confirmed one crucial thing: that it's possible to spend a great deal of time on TV and tell an audience almost nothing. The key issues in what passes for American political debate are simple enough: Which performer will flub his lines? Who will commit the most memorable "gaffe"? Who is most believable or looks most "presidential"? Which one would you want to have a beer with? Which do you feel "understands" your problems best?