Atlantic Council Senior Adviser Harlan Ullman writes for United Press International on the upcoming presidential elections:
Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton have now formally entered the presidential 2016 sweepstakes, joining a small platoon — if not battalion — of contenders on both sides of the aisle that likely will grow. Over the next sixteen months, voters will be overwhelmed by the propaganda and spin emanating from this expanse of campaigns. Indeed, public debates on the Republican side may not find stages large enough to accommodate all the rivals, whether or not the numbers are weaned to the low double digits.
If the Republican nominating process of 2012 was a spectacle, this race may set an even lower bar in deciding who will ultimately run for the nation’s highest elective office. And the chance of serious debate as opposed to a media circus orchestrated by moderators — susceptible to making the show about them and their questions, not the answers — becomes moot. Is there any way to overcome these obstacles in selecting and then electing the fittest candidate for the presidency?