Wildcard Submission #2

[Common-Sense Politics]

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Generally after a major event during election season such as a debate between presidential candidates you'd be reading about the moment when things really heated up or that the party's definitely started. Well, the DJ didn't show up and it's fucking freezing in here.

In a painful display of rigidity and caution, Speaker Drecq and Minister Kraketopia ensured the most noteworthy posts of the night were to be found in the public gallery where topics included killing Nazis, boobs, Richard Nixon, and the merits of Russell Crowe and Mel Gibson portaying Scots. By the way, Drecq, you owe me ten dollars (you'd laugh if you were there, people).

Regardless of whether or not these fellows set a new standard for uninspiring rhetoric or that reliving this abortion of a debate might bring the author to tears, it's probably important to know who won so let's take a look at what they did have to say, question by question.

Question #1: You are both comparatively young Europeians; though with a noted age differential. How can you be certain that you have enough experience for the Goldenblock?

That's a good question, as experience is the chief indicator for future performance. I would argue that while relatively young I have still held a number of respectable positions. I have been a two term Senator, winning office both times with the highest vote tally(although tied in the second election) as well as MinComm twice and MoFA once. I have held a number of other smaller positions as well. In both MinComm and MoF...both around to satisfactory levels. I believe I have experience in the areas of Europeian politics that count, and have proven my worth. As for lack of experienced compared to older members, I would argue that my youth(to the region) brings a new creativity and flair, which is always good for politics.

I must disagree with the question. Age does not necessarily equal experience. But lets answer the question of whether or not I have enough of the latter. I have been Minister of the Interior, Senator for a long time. Speaker for longer than anyone else. AJ for 1.5 terms now. AG before that. Aside from that I have also been Assistent Minister in every Ministry. Culture, MinComm, FA, I am an Officer in the ERN. So I have gathered experience...is executive experience. When it comes to that I might not have as much experience as some, but as a two term VP I have more than most. I certainly know how the Goldenblock works and what to do once inside it.

Both candidates made a underwhelming attempt at confidence here but overall no gaffes. You might say Krak's answer was slightly more articulate if a bit uppity but the "less is more" at the end there didn't do anything for him. Drecq missed a big opportunity here to distinguish himself from his opponent by highlighting the fact that his experience is by most accounts superior to Krak's though he did talk about himself in an unassuming but comprehensive way. I'm giving a slight edge to Drecq on this question. Drecq - 1, Kraketopia - 0

Question #2: Domestic visibility and political acumen is necessary to win the people of the Republic, but it could be argued neither of you have the greatest presence on the world stage. How will you remedy this, and do you feel that you can engage with international leaders on an equal level?

True. Outside the Europeian borders I am a virtual unknown. The first thing to do would of course be to go meet and greet with our allies. Then with the most important players that we have no treaties with. Then of course with everyone else. Presence on the world stage can be build up. As to engaging with international leaders on an equal level, I have been. Not on the NS forums or IRC, but in Europeia without ever leaving the house. Many..., especially those we have long had close relations with. Europeia is the cream of the crop. We can converse with international leaders here. There is no reason to believe we can not anywhere else.

I am relatively unknown in many regions, this is true. But I have established contacts with our greatest and closest allies, particularly in TSP and Osiris. I believe I have the basic foreign contacts to make negotiations possible. What this question really asks about is the ability of the candidate to deal with large figures as President. I believe I have the skills to represent Euro proudly, charm powerholders, and def...more than capable of handling myself in an argument, working out a deal, and handling myself in a conversation. I believe as President I would have both the basic experience in Foreign Affairs, the basic contacts from my stint as MoFA. Most importantly, I possess the negotiation skills to co-operate with our allies and neutral regions, rather than alienating them.

This might have been Drecq's worst answer of the night. Go ahead and read it again. You have to make one of two assumptions: he's clinging to his naive noobish notions of international relations and learned nothing from the defender kumbaya gaffe earlier in the campaign or he endeavored to say absolutely nothing in no less than six hundred characters. While Krak's answer wasn't overwhelming and singling out TSP and Osiris as the only named of our closest allies might have us scratching our collective heads, he did understand the intent of the question and talked about his relationships abroad. He presented himself as a bigger FA man, to put it in rough terms, than his opponent and it was mildly effective. Krak answered this question significantly better than Drecq. Kraketopia - 2, Drecq - 1

Question #3: What is the preeminent challenge in terms of foreign policy looking toward the balance of the next term?

Full disclosure, I submitted this question because I wanted these guys to have an opportunity to contest the notion that neither of them were bringing much to the table in terms of foreign policy vision. If the theme of this article is clear by now, you'll have guessed I was disappointed. Yeah, it was pretty bad.

I'm not sure that there is a "pre-eminent challenge" facing Europeian foreign policy. We have a nice stable of allies, things are going our way in Osiris and TSP, which were regions to watch for a little while, and the GAP has finally taken off. The biggest issues are getting more allies, building relationships with the allies we do have, and ensuring the public image of the GAP is a positive one.

I must agree with my opponent that there must necessarily be a "pre-eminent challenge", especially one that can be seen coming. Challenges often hit out of no where. As to goals, maintaining relationships and building new ones is always a favorite. Too many formal treaties might not be a good thing, as the run up to World War the Original taught us, but one can never have too many friendships.

That's right folks. There is no preeminent challenge for Europeia internationally. In fact, there aren't even any specific challenges to be identified by these candidates. They couldn't even bother to make something up! The bulk of these answers are totally absent of substance but there are a couple phrases of note. Krak again brings up TSP and Osiris specifically but this time to assert that "things are going our way" after they were "regions to watch for a little while". I don't think anybody in TSP or Osiris is going to be thrilled by that sentence. It's at least suggestive of our being meddlesome or those communities being in need of monitoring. I doubt that was the Minister's intention but the Europeian president needs to choose his words more carefully. His point about protecting the public image of the GAP, though, was a good one though he offers nothing further than that we should be doing so. Drecq doesn't say much but he doesn't screw up either. The point about adaptability is decent but comes off as a bit of a cop-out response to a potentially challenging question. By virtue of simply not saying anything stupid, Drecq again has a slight edge on a question they both really dropped the ball on. Kraketopia - 2, Drecq - 2

Question #4: You both speak of how you would deal with friendly and comparatively neutral leaders and regions; given your (currently) small international profiles, will you be able to adequately defend our position against any hostile to our interests, and, how?

"Diplomacy is telling someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip." I dont know where that quote originated but its an apt one. An essential part of international politics is the ability to tell your friends that in specific cases their interests dont necessarily align with ours. It is important to remind our friends that there is more that unites us than divides us. As to neutral leaders, I think the old addage either they agree or until they accept that in that instance Europeia must come first to Europeia.

Dealing with hostile leaders is like dealing with neutral ones, it's all about tact. You have to recognize whether they can be swayed to neutrality or even a favorable position, or if they will remain hostile indefinitely. If it is the second option, then being able to protect Europeian interests and work around them is key. I have the resources to handle both types of leaders. I've dealt with both types of people on Eur...ever uninformed on an issue, the EAAC makes a great asset for quickly brushing up on modern history.

Drecq didn't answer the question asked of him and frankly, he lost me right at the beginning. Krak answers the question fairly well. A general strategy is there and he shows us that he's willing to learn. Krak gets two points on this one but only because Drecq did so poorly. Kraketopia - 4, Drecq - 2

Question 5: How well do you take advice, both from your subordinates, and from the ordinary citizen?

This was a softball that they both hit exactly the same way. I'm not going to bother with it. Score remains unchanged.

Question 6: Both of you have been in the EuroNavy for some time, but neither have had much of a leadership role. Given therefore that you may be somewhat dependent upon your choice for Grand Admiral, and given that in the past month or so participation and activity outside of reinforcement missions has been on the decline, what will you as President do to bring things back up to scratch?

More missions with allies is the obvious answer. A couples of wins under its belt will bring the spotlight back to the Navy. That means new recruits and more homegrown activity. Activity breeds activity. It is for that reason I have chosen my GA. His contacts with friendly raiding forces will be a great tool for renewed activity.

A bit part of my platform was the rejuvenation of the Navy. I believe my GA to be experienced, disciplined, and in possession of the of contacts vital to make joint operations possible. I plan to authorize a number of joint operations to bolster activity and train our troops on the aspects or larger operations. I also plan to create a military event between allies("War Games") when our military is up to snuff. I believe...our troops.

The answers are identical unless you count Krak's mention of war games remarkable and I don't. There's nothing innovative or of note here nor are there any problems with what they did say. This one's a push but just for fun let's give them each a point. Kraketopia - 5, Drecq - 3

Question #7: Kraken, your announced GA pick [Seven Deaths] has been essentially out of Europeia for several months now, and left feeling rather burned out - how will you ensure he is up to speed and capable of the task of rejuvenation? Drecq, your announced GA pick [Cormac] has (it could be well-argued) primary military loyalties to other regions, specifically the Brotherhood of [Malice] where he is a significant stakeholder, and Osiris - how can Europeia be sure that the EuroNavy won't end up just being mere backup for one or both of those militaries?

My GA pick has been a prominent Europeian in the past, and while he did become burned out, he has had a long vacation from Euro and is ready to return. I have discussed this topic with him extensively, and I am very confident he will bring both high activity and dedication to his post. If he does not, I will have no problem terminating his position and finding someone else.

Simple. We wont let that happen. My VP, having been highly involved in the ERN himself, and I will both actively participate in the ERN. The GA is the professional head of the ERN, but the President is the Commander-In-Chief. Aside from that my GA has confirmed that his participation in other areas of NS will not interfere with his activity in the ERN.

Not a whole lot to say on this one but Drecq did come back out for this one swinging demonstrating that he will be the kind of president who is in the thick of it and that the buck stops with him especially in a department that needs that kind of leadership. He did distinguish himself from his opponent on this question and he gets the nod but Krak's answer wasn't particularly bad therefore it's for a single point. Kraketopia - 5, Drecq - 4

*It should be noted that Cormac has since left BoM. I'm not sure but r3n said so and I trust my penguin.

Question #8: Tell me of your opponent's strengths. Tell me the areas where they are stronger than you.

Foreign Affairs, obviously. As a former MoFA he has better connections internationally than I going in. Some have also mentioned that he is a better communicator than I am, although I would say not by a stellar amount.

Drecq obviously has greater experience in the Judiciary and the Senate, and has a strong knack for catching small details.

This was another cream puff question but still an interesting one. They both answered appropriately. There's a time to engage your opponent and there are times to be graceful. This was the latter and for that, they both deserve a point. Kraketopia - 6, Drecq - 5

Question #9: How do you intend to base your communication with the Republic? Will you utilise radio, speeches, brief but regular updates in the Goldenblock? What do you think the citizens want in this area?

Well, a big part of my platform was creating the Office of Dispatches, so obviously I intend to use those. For forum communication I intend to use frequent, short, written updates. I find that the majority of Europeians greatly prefer written messages as their form of media communication from the President, and while MinComm during first term I took a poll on the matter and it essentially proved that point. I will do radi...want grand speeches, but what they really want is to know what's happening.

Frequent, short updates in the Goldenblock plus big speeches at midterm and the end of the term. Id like to incorporate sound in the big speeches and to that end will be buying a head-set, on advice from anyone who listened to the Judicial Conference.

Office of Dispatches, a new idea! Holy dog shit! This was one of the better answers for Krak as he offers a new idea, answers the question completely, cites his experience and uses evidence to support his statements. Drecq's answer isn't bad either but sound in speeches is a simple continuation of Anumia's communications. Again, the answer isn't bad there's just no effort there. Point, Krak. Kraketopia - 7, Drecq - 5.

Question #10: Moving on to Interior matters; over the past few months the population has first been stabilised from the effective tumble through 2013, then regrew a little before hovering at roughly 800. What will your approach be to increase the population/how will you deal with or encourage manual recruitment if you deem it necessary?

I will encourage manual recruitment through competitions and prizes. I will also increase the percentage of AMs assigned to Interior. More specialty recruitment TGs will be created, for such things as Fathers Day, 4th of July and others. All this should lead to more TGs being send and TGs being more effective.

I will put forward similar measures as Drecq mentioned, as well as ensuring that Mousey's work is not undone. I have a great candidate lined up for the position who I don't think Drecq can argue with, himself

I guess Krak just decided this one wasn't worth his time. Drecq answers the question completely and succinctly offering specific actions he will take to accomplish a defined goal. Due to Krak's indifference to the task at hand and a solid answer, Dreqc is awarded two points tying the score going into the home stretch. Kraketopia - 7, Drecq - 7

Question #11: Do you foresee presiding [over] any major structural changes to the Republic?

Not particularly, nothing GAP level. The biggest structural change I'll probably make is creating the Office of Dispatches within MinComm, which is a fairly small change. If the need for something arises though, I'll obviously look into it.

I dont see anything too large coming up either. As everyone knows by now I plan on folding MinComm back into Culture. But that isnt a huge shift.

MAKE SOMETHING UP. Call the other guy an asshole. Anything to end this tooth pulling disaster, gentlemen. You are displaying the charisma of a post-lobotomy McMurphy. Give me one of those points back, both of you. Kraketopia - 6, Drecq - 6

Question #12: The Great Architecture Project is taking off, but both of your VP choices have shown opposition to the concept. Drecq, your VP signed up initially, but has since both domestically and internationally disparaged the program, while Kraken, your VP was perhaps the first significant critic. Both of you have stated your intent to continue with the program and both of you are already personally involved; how will you deal with this point of contention with your VP on a major part of Government, and how will you work to continue the uplift of the project?

I dont need to agree with my VP on everything. I have been a long and vocal supporter of the GAP and have been involved in its realisation. I intend to continue with the GAP on its current track. With the President and the MoFC (but in the future also the MoFA due to my choice for that position) continuing to vet and invite Regions into the GAP. With more hands on that job getting more members should go ever faster. Once we have enough reg...regards.

I've supported the GAP since the start, and look forward to seeing it flourish under either of our terms. Lexus is a great voice of reason, and I look forward to hearing any criticisms he may bring to me, so that I may strengthen the integrity of the GAP. I will certainly not scale it back or reduce its scope however, and look forward to contributing to its success.

Both candidates missed an opportunity to promise that progress with the GAP would be accelerated should they be in charge and also to note that communication regarding the program would be more frequent. Both fully commit to maintaining the program in its entirety. Personally, I feel Krak's point about using Lex as a balancing voice is stronger than Drecq's statement that he need not be in lockstep with Elias on everything but that's too subjective to tip the scales.

Final Tally: Kraketopia - 7, Drecq - 7

If you're disappointed by the anti-climactic nature of our conclusion then you certainly haven't been paying attention. At no point in this debate did either of the candidates...debate the other. At no point in time did either candidate challenge the other. At no point in time did either candidate demonstrate that they have the chops to play in the big leagues and Elias not being available for a showdown with Lexus was probably to their benefit as I expect they would have show us how seasoned veterans play ball around here, only underscoring that perception. There you have it, the most boring debate anywhere, ever.

Now I will be the first to acknowledge that I was really hard on these guys here and I warned them both that I would be at the close of the debate. My approach here was partly sensational for the purposes of a media outlet which at the end of the day is seeking a reaction from its readers but also to use some rugged humor to emphasize a more serious point. Europeia needs a leader, not a caretaker; someone who knows when to talk and when to listen, when to fight and when to relent, when to resort to whit or brute force, to be articulate, strong, wise, perceptive, and resilient. If either of these young men are to be a great president (as I very much hope they both will be regardless of what happens tomorrow), they will need to step up their game and if I have to look like a miserable prick in order for that to really take hold then I'll take that trade off any day of the week. I hope they'll both accept that.

Good luck to Drecq and Kraketopia tomorrow. Don't forget to vote...unless you're an idiot. Good night, everyone.

 

[modernsin]

Well...it had to be said.

Seriously though, I agree with most of this. Is this the candidates' first big debate or something? Because it wasn't a debate so much as a striaght-up Q&A. This is what I'd expect from combining both platform threads together. Debates are a time to have an actual conversation; there doesn't have to be much bite, necessarily, but something more dynamic than a pair of two-sentence responses that often say the same thing. I don't even know who to give the advantage to because the whole thing was so damn sterile I didn't really come away from it learning anything new from either candidate. I've made it pretty obvious that I was looking forward to this debate, but I wouldn't have gotten this excited if I had known it would be a wet fart at the end of a dry campaign period.

I mean the person who did the best was, by far, Anumia. Most of the questions were solid. While many of them were FA-heavy, that area seems to have been a pretty major focus throughout this election. Even Anumia himself pointed out that the candidates' answers to the "describe your opponent's strengths" question were weak as hell. Overall, a very bland capstone to a yawn-inducing election. Please, HEM or Lethen, open the polls early and put us all out of our fucking misery. Please and thanks.

 

[Cormac]

It reminded me of Q&A sessions with Hillary Clinton in which she answers every question with some variant of "I think we should have a dialogue..." And no, reminding me of Hillary Clinton is not a good thing.

I think Drecq won the debate, but only by a bit. I think we're giving Kraketopia a bit too much slack because of his lack of experience, but two things to bear in mind are: 1) Other regions and orgs, particularly those hostile to our interests, aren't going to cut him that kind of slack, and 2) While he certainly does lack experience, what experience he does have includes a term as Minister of Foreign Affairs. We can and should expect him to be handling questions about external policy better than this at this point.

 

[Skizzy Grey]

We've elected Presidents who had a weak knowledge basis but were willing to work hard, and we've elected Presidents who were supremely knowledgable but didn't have the time or energy. We've been far better served by the former group of Presidents than the latter. So while I agree with some of the criticisms here, I don't fear for the future of the Republic.

 

[Rach]

I'm not sure if it was the most boring debate ever, but it was pretty boring and vanilla. Both side played it very safe and I think they were content to treat it more like a Q&A and less like a debate.

 

[Kraketopia]

To be fair the setup wasn't very conducive to debate. It was here's a question, now answer it. There was no mechanism for the other candidate to comment on the previous one's answer, it was always a new question. It's hard to start criticizing and clashing too much when you're trying to answer a new question, without the debate turning into one tangled up ball. I can just imagine what CSP's write up would look like for that :lol:

 

[Rach]

Not a lot of time either.

 

[Common-Sense Politics]

To be fair the setup wasn't very conducive to debate. It was here's a question, now answer it. There was no mechanism for the other candidate to comment on the previous one's answer, it was always a new question. It's hard to start criticizing and clashing too much when you're trying to answer a new question, without the debate turning into one tangled up ball. I can just imagine what CSP's write up would look like for that :lol:

It wouldn't have killed either of you to take some initiative there either. In a debate the most important thing is to make your point and if you have to breach quorum to do it then you should. People will remember what you said not that you didn't follow the flow of the debate.

 

[HEM]

To be fair the setup wasn't very conducive to debate. It was here's a question, now answer it. There was no mechanism for the other candidate to comment on the previous one's answer, it was always a new question. It's hard to start criticizing and clashing too much when you're trying to answer a new question, without the debate turning into one tangled up ball. I can just imagine what CSP's write up would look like for that :lol:

It wouldn't have killed either of you to take some initiative there either. In a debate the most important thing is to make your point and if you have to breach quorum to do it then you should. People will remember what you said not that you didn't follow the flow of the debate.

You have to make the mechanism.

Basically what CSP said

 

[modernsin]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure debates have usually been structured in the same way for awhile, with maybe some minor variations. When the meat of the debates is essentially the candidates' responses to questions, it feels weird to blame other factors for the resultant mess. I understand there were time constraints and all, but personally I'd happily trade in fewer questions for a more dynamic and organic discussion of the most relevant issues.

Didn't we (at least once) have a panel-style moderation of debates at one point? Maybe having a group of moderators trading questions and comments alongside the candidates would make the atmosphere feel freer. It would be nice, in general, to have an entrenched/codified procedure for debates, rather than running them haphazardly every other term or so.

 

[PhDre]

I know we've had debates where we have decided 'response' times. Maybe that would have been nice, but I don't know much much substance each candidate had to 'attack' or critique from the other man today.

 

[Huxwells Fortier-Shaw]

1) I'm falling in love with your awesome writing style, CSP.

2) I completely agree with Skizzy.

3) Yes, the candidates could have taken more initiative, but the bashing is starting to slide into the extreme here... If anything, one could reason that because of them being "novice" at this, Anumia could've at least tried to think of some follow-up questions, rather than complain about how dull the answers are and then move on to the next one.

 

[Lethen]

I wouldn't call any of this "bashing," Hux. :emb:

Didn't we (at least once) have a panel-style moderation of debates at one point? Maybe having a group of moderators trading questions and comments alongside the candidates would make the atmosphere feel freer. It would be nice, in general, to have an entrenched/codified procedure for debates, rather than running them haphazardly every other term or so.

There have definitely been some pretty good IRC-side debates where there would be a separate IRC channel open for debate discussion/commentary, and the moderator would take questions from people in that room to present to the candidates in another room. Would throw them off guard; there was some proper decorum but polite interruptions and rebuttals were also common that time.

I was there as a VP candidate I believe...

 

[Elias Greyjoy]

The debate that Mac/CSP/I had was in that format, and I quite enjoyed it.

 

[Zenny Winter]

Tl;dr
but because it has a picture of Charlie Day in it, you win forever, CSP.

 

[modernsin]

Tl;dr
but because it has a picture of Charlie Day in it, you win forever, CSP.

You want a tl;dr for a detailed breakdown of a 12-question debate? D:

The last couple paragraphs cover most of it, I guess.

 

[Cormac]

I don't think she was actually asking for a summary, just saying it was too long and she didn't read.

I've read Unibot's essays -- all of them, why do you think I switched back?! -- so this was a breeze. :lol:

 

[Elias Greyjoy]

I've read Unibot's essays -- all of them

I'm so, so sorry.

 

[HEM]

I've read Unibot's essays -- all of them

I'm so, so sorry.

I'm concerned.