A debate-weary nation turns its lonely eyes to Fox Business Network on Tuesday to see whether the upstart cable channel can somehow wrest the Republican candidates back from their tantrums over the CNBC circus to a format where they will actually answer questions.
Though we may never find out what Chris Christie thinks of fantasy football, or whatMarco Rubio’s greatest weakness is, the questions by Fox Business anchors and Wall Street Journal editors will likely swing the pendulum from CNBC’s freewheeling tribunal to a more urgent set of real economic and financial priorities. The candidates won’t be hit with the “gotcha” questions like last time, though if their answers at all stray into political messaging from actual facts and opinions, they won’t need the news media’s help to blow themselves to bits in front of a nationwide audience.
Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo are veteran financial and political TV personalities, and WSJ Editor Gerry Baker carries enough clout to talk rings around the lot of the candidates on any subject. On the undercard, Trish Regan and Sandra Smith, both strong financial interviewers, will be complemented by the WSJ’s Gerald Seib, longtime Washington bureau chief.
Assuming any of the moderators get a word in edgewise, here are six questions they should ask:
- Strong jobs numbers last week dramatically increased the chances that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month for the first time in nearly a decade. Do you support this? The purpose of this question is to gauge the candidates' knowledge of how global markets and the U.S. economy work, as well as how far off the diving board they might stray on the issue of Fed independence. There are two acceptable answers to this question, neither of which starts with "Why are we talking about this?"
- President Obama's decision last week to reject the Keystone XL pipeline cheered climate change advocates but will put further pressure on the U.S. oil and energy industry, which has lost more than 100,000 jobs this year as oil prices were cut in half. Would your administration immediately remove the ban on U.S. oil exports? This question will allow everybody to take their requisite shot at Obama but will also require a yes/no answer to an issue that could move markets and affect our Middle East policy.
- A USA Today story last week revealed that just five large tech companies command 70% of the industry's more than $300 billion in revenue in the past 12 months. In a nation plagued by inequality, the tech divide has erupted faster and more rigidly along the lines of race, gender and finance than perhaps in any other industry in history, including Wall Street. What will you do to turn this around? This is where Silicon Valley makes its decision on whom to support among the GOP candidates, if any of them. Only a free-market, they-earned-it answer will appease the unicorns. At the likely expense of just about everybody else.
- Explain the TPP and your position on it with regard to its impact on two specific industries. This question will see whether the candidates understand anything about the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership other than the shallow summary thatDemocrats think it will hurt unions and Republicans think it will create jobs through corporate profits. It also will test their geographic knowledge of Asia.
- Should the heads of Wall Street's largest banks have gone to jail after the financial crisis? Which ones?OK, two questions to which there is one answer nobody will like, so the candidates won't provide it. But it will be fun to watch them squirm.
- Closing question: List three ways, specifically, your administration will improve relations with the news media after the iron curtain of the Obama years. What role will CNBC play? Though I expect the moderators will ask all these questions in some variance, I have low expectations for straight answers from any of the candidates, including the Democrats in their debate Saturday. I will instead watch both debates while continuing to ponder the more existential postulate that one or all of the candidates may indeed be comic book characters. If so: Which characters?
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