The debate between President Trump and Vice President Biden earlier this week told us nothing new about the candidates. The president criticized Mr. Biden for not proposing any specific plans for his term in office, and then talked over him whenever he started to give specifics. Mr. Biden was more restrained, but eventually gave up trying to address Mr. Trump's disconnected thoughts and spoke directly (and effectively) to the American people.
A second debate in the same format won't tell us anything new or interesting about the candidates. Let's admit that we are tuning in mainly to watch for gaffes and blunders, with the same morbid attraction that we have for seeing tightrope walkers and trapeze artists put themselves in danger.
If Messrs. Trump and Biden are going to meet again to do battle, it should be in a novel format. Hence the Laquedem Plan to Rework the Second Presidential Debate.
Let them play three games of Scrabble on national television.
Let us see how they interact over a game board, what words they choose, how becomingly they achieve victory, and how gracefully they accept defeat. Let us read what we can into their choice of words, their game strategies, their use of bonus squares, and their inventiveness with J, Q, X, and Z. Do they open up new territory on the board with long words that leap to the borders? Or do they play conservatively and defensively, filling squares in ones and twos? Do they challenge each other's words?
It's said that you can learn a lot about a man's character by playing golf with him. Let's bring the character test to the table.
Game on!