I took over three hours of my life to watch a presidential debate last night that seemed anything but presidential, and it really wasn’t the fault of the candidates.

The framework the network (CNN) set up was not to highlight what the candidates’ positions were, but more so an attempt to pit them against one another. Those differences will come out on their own during the natural course of a debate, but to set it up like an MMA event takes presidential politics deeper down a rabbit hole than need be, and leaves us more in the dark.

Even though the network was more concerned with making the debate more bombastic than informative by arranging a few guaranteed car wrecks to ogle, I didn’t get hooked.

It’s because I have a different way of responding to candidates than most people I talk to. I really am not initially evaluating them on their positions, their appearance, their command of the King’s English or their facts. I simply get a feel for the person. Their positions and politics come much later for me.

A person will communicate everything you need to know about them when you pay attention to the sensations you get in your body when you see them. A great way to do this experiment is to record any unscripted event on TV, where you don’t know any of the participants, and watch with the sound turned down. You could be watching a session of the British Parliament on C-SPAN or an episode of Judge Judy. It really doesn’t matter. What matters are the sensations you get. I call it our “Spidey Sense.”

Then, re-watch the the recorded show with the sound turned up and see how spot on your impressions were.

This Spidey Sense method is not judging a book by its cover; it uncovers what people are communicating at an other-than-conscious level which will always be more trustworthy than any opinion you form about their spoken delivery.

Networks know you will get sidetracked by the sideshows. That’s why they arrange for them to happen. It’s great for ratings. Basically they set it up so that the event panders to your prejudice and gives you little chance to get any substance or appreciation for a candidate you may not be rooting for.

I invite you to pay more attention to your unfiltered sensations than you do to your prejudices and you’ll discover your inner Peter Parker.

All the best,

John