By my count, there hasn’t been a single presidential debate since the 1980s. Every other “debate” has been canned questions and answers, but nothing that resembles a real debate. A real debate would require candidates to state a resolution, then defend it from a counterstatement from the other candidate. The alternative would be for debaters to qustion eachother. What we have now is bread and circuses. Every tough question is left without a follow up. The only exception was when Obama was drilled about the capital gains tax (and he clearly showed he had no idea what he was talking about).
Instead of asking whether Obama ever supported a gun ban in Illinois, ask him if he supports a national gun ban now (he does). What is his position on abortion? Partial birth abortion? How, exactly did Bush “fail” in dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions? Would Hillary or Obama have offered to sacrifice Israel? Obama also did not commit to use of force if Israel were threatened—why was he left off the hook with his “appropriate response” answer? What did that mean? Would he or would he not use force? At least Hillary made it clear that she would respond with “massive retaliation”.
All of these debates have been a joke.