Presidential Debate Theater: “Real Housewives” meets “The Office” – Salon.com

Debates are so structured, so circumscribed, that any thing that veers off script can feel breathtaking, even a little spat about oil permits. This confrontation between Romney and Obama — the first of many — felt transgressive, electric. My Twitter feed filled up with, “Oh, shits!” because, in this context, two guys in suits trying to get their dry policy points across while facing off on a stage set seemed as out of bounds as a Real Housewife tossing a table. It was a moment of lesser propriety — when two people with different perspectives who have been fighting for months and probably don’t like each other actually seemed not to like each other that much. Obvious as that is, it was still energizing to see it enacted so baldly.

via Presidential Debate Theater: “Real Housewives” meets “The Office” – Salon.com.