Why I'm scared about Thursday

I'm 78 today, and I'm terrified about what might come down Thursday evening when the oldest candidates ever to compete in a presidential race debate each other.

I'm less worried that Biden will suffer a mental lapse or physically stumble than I am that Biden will look weak and Trump strong.

One of Trump's most successful ploys has been to frame the upcoming election as a contest between strength and weakness and to convince many Americans that stridency and pugnacity are signs of strength while truth and humility signal weakness.

In 1960, when I watched John F. Kennedy square off against Richard Nixon, character and temperament were the most important variables.

Most people who listened to the debate on radio called the first debate a draw or thought Nixon had won, but Kennedy won handily among television viewers. It wasn't because of Nixon's paler complexion. Kennedy stared directly into the camera when he answered each question.

Nixon, on the other hand, looked off to the side to address the various reporters, which came across as shifting his gaze to avoid eye contact with the public a move that seemed to show evasiveness, the character flaw that had earned Nixon the moniker "Tricky Dick." I last watched a tape of the Kennedy-Nixon television debate in 1992, when sitting beside Bill Clinton, who used it to prepare for his debate with George H.