What with Joe Biden being in hiding, there was great expectation for the first presidential debate Tuesday night.  Presidential debates have become part of the political landscape every four years.  After every debate, there’s the obligatory media critique, of the candidates, the moderators, the questions, and the answers.  We rarely are told, “Boy, that was great!”  That’s because what we call “debates” are really not debates.  Debating has a long history and can be traced back to the philosophical and political debates of Ancient Greece.  Plato began the concept of the debate.  What we saw on Tuesday, resembled neither a Platonic oration nor a Socratic dialogue.  In ancient Rome, Cicero was the greatest orator on the floor of the Roman Senate.  Had he been involved in the Trump/Biden debate, Cicero would have gone home and opened his veins.  Saint Augustine is known for his debate with Pelagius, on the nature of Original Sin.  What we witnessed Tuesday was a sin, but it was far from original.  Every election cycle, we’re reminded of the Lincoln/Douglas debates.  They were real debates, the candidates squaring off to expound in the issues.  Our modern debates have been nothing like that.  At the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon debate, radio listeners said Nixon won, but television viewers favored the tanned Kennedy over the sickly, pasty-faced Nixon.   The 1980 Reagan/Carter debate is memorable, with Ronald Reagan jovially chiding Carter, “There you go again.”  There were few memorable, or even repeatable, lines from the Tuesday debate.  I rarely agree with anyone on CNN, but I had to agree with Dana Bash, who said of Trump/Biden, “This was a shit show.”  The format of the debate was questions from moderator Chris Wallace, with each candidate to have 2 minutes uninterrupted to answer.   Wallace said beforehand, if he did his job right, he’d be invisible.  After his performance, Wallace might want to disappear.  He served softballs to Biden.  “Mr. Biden, you say that President Trump’s response to the violence in Charlottesville three years ago, when he talked about very fine people on both sides, was what directly led you to launch this run for president.”  Trump never called white supremecists “fine people,” but O.K.  Then Wallace repeatedly tried to nail Trump.  “You, in the course of these four years, have never come up with a comprehensive plan to replace Obamacare, and just this last Thursday, you signed a largely symbolic executive order to protect people with preexisting conditions.”  Trump says at every rally “we will always protect preexisting conditions.”  I guess Wallace thinks Trump is lying.  “Will you denounce white supremecists like those in Kenosha?”  The only white people in the streets of Kenosha were the Antifa A-holes burning and rioting.  It’s true that Trump interrupted Biden a lot, but Biden gave as good as he got, calling Trump a clown and a racist, and telling the President, “shut up man.”  Old Joe got very testy, warning Trump he was messing with the “wrong guy, the wrong night at the wrong time.”  It put me in mind of the Seinfeld episode with Lloyd Bridges challenging everyone to a fight.  “It’s go time!”  No matter who’s turn it was supposed to be to answer, whenever Trump chimed in, Wallace rebuked him.  Wallace continually gave Biden more time to answer, and when Trump tried to correct something Biden said, Wallace told him, “We’re moving on.”  I think I understand the Trump strategy.  Joe Biden’s been in the basement, shutting off all contact with the media as early as 9 a.m.  Clearly, his handlers were trying to get him ready to do a 90 minute debate.  They succeeded, because he stood up to the pounding.  Trump was trying to bombard Biden with facts and questions, hoping that he would crack, and descend into one of his incoherent monologues or rants.  That didn’t work.  The best I can say for Trump is that, whenever he interrupted to hit Biden, he hit him with issues about which we are entitled to have an answer from Sleepy Joe.  Did your son take $3.5 million from Russians?”  Biden gave liberal answer #1 – “That’s not true.”  “Do you intend to pack the Supreme Court?”  Biden refused to answer, “Whatever position I take, that’ll become the issue.”  Chris Wallace didn’t press him on that, or on anything.  Biden attacked Trump with lies.  “200,000 people are dead because you panicked, and did nothing about Corona virus.”  “You want to drop nuclear bombs on hurricanes.”  There were a couple of good shots by Trump.  After Biden criticized the size of Trump’s rallies, Trump responded that Biden rallies were “much smaller events because no one shows up.”  Trump challenged Biden on his failure to speak up for law and order.  Biden blurted out that “Antifa is an idea” not a real organization.  Hispanic viewers on Telemundo said Trump won 66% to 34%, and CSPAN viewers favored Trump 53% to 29%.  But Trump rubbed me the wrong way.  Projecting strength and confidence is fine, but I found Trump’s interjections to be unseemly, gratuitous, and counter-productive.  I like the President, but I couldn’t wait for it to end.  And Trump missed an opportunity set the record straight on Corona virus.  When accused of “doing nothing,” and “not taking it seriously,” Trump could have said this.  “I took it seriously enough to set up the Task Force in January, and ban flights from China.  We compiled a team of medical and logistical experts.  When the medical experts advised us, we listened, and implemented their recommendations.  When the state governors needed ventilators and PPE, we mobilized private industry to supply them.  We built hospitals.  We positioned hospital ships.  We reported to the American people almost every day.  You say in July you gave a list of things you would have done.  We did  everything on your list in February, March and April.  Every nation on Earth has been hit by this virus and has taken unacceptable losses.  No nation on Earth has found a magic solution to the problem.  But we’re supposed to believe that Joe Biden has the secret solution.  Not likely.  The Trump Administration was all action.  Joe Biden is all talk.”  Case closed.  Game over.  Or as Biden might say, “Period!”  President Trump can do better, and he needs to do better.  We need to see the bold actor, versus the the old mumbler, not just another remake of Grumpy Old Men.