President Joe Biden, appearing on “The Howard Stern Show,” when asked if he would debate Donald Trump, said, “I am. I don’t know when. I am happy to debate him.”

The Commission on Presidential Debates knows when, as they have already scheduled three of them: Sept. 16 in San Marcos, Texas, Oct. 1, in Petersburg, Virginia, and Oct. 9 in Salt Lake City.

The first question is, “Do we need a presidential debate at all?” The answer is, “Absolutely, we do!”

What candidate wouldn’t leap at the chance to debate his or her opponent before a nationwide audience?

Need another reason? Pew Research Center released poll numbers on April 24 indicating that nearly half (49%) of the people would still like to replace both Biden and Trump on the 2024 ballot.

That poll result alone should tell us we need a debate, if half the voters still need convincing one of those two men should be our next president. It doesn’t paint a very good picture for either major party for giving us two candidates half the people don’t want.

We all know this is going to be a close race, so, the more we know about the candidates’ specific intentions, the better prepared we will be come Election Day.

Some will say we know enough about those two guys, and I say we don’t know nearly enough about those two guys.

Others will say debates have little influence on election results. The first modern presidential debate was in 1960, between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, a well-known vice president for eight years and a not-so-well-known young senator from Massachusetts.

That first debate was pivotal and flipped the momentum to Kennedy.

Some say Trump will be a bully, or Biden can’t perform without his note cards. I say, those two men are applying for one of the most important jobs in the world, and we deserve to see the interview.

Past debates get all caught up in the minutia instead of the magnitude, and, in this political climate, we need magnitude. Trump and Biden have a lot of selling to do before Americans are willing to buy.

But, first, to the Commission on Presidential Debates: For crying out loud, give those candidates more than two minutes to answer a question. We are talking about major policy decisions, here, not going through a fast-food drive-in for some fries! Give the candidates adequate time to answer in detail and shut the other candidate’s microphone off while the first one answers the question. I want to see a debate, not a circus.

I want to know if they intend to balance the budget, and, if they do, will it be with higher taxes or less spending or a combination of both?

I would say, “Be specific, gentlemen.”

What is their plan to ensure Social Security and Medicare will remain solvent for generations to come? They are going to be insolvent soon. “What’s your exact plan to shore this up? Be specific!”

What is their plan for immigration reform, and when will it be introduced, and how and when will they get it passed through Congress, and when do they expect to sign it? “Specifics gentlemen, please, give us the specifics.”

I think we need a more consistent abortion solution than allowing all 50 states to decide individually. If elected president, what exactly would they do, and what, if anything, can a president legally do about abortion? “Again, specifics gentlemen.”

What is our current national energy policy? All I see are corporate tax breaks, tax deductions, tax exemptions, rebates, loans, and subsidies. But what is our national energy policy? That is a critical issue, and we need specific answers.

We just borrowed $95 billion for a foreign aid package to help Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Be specific, and give me the year that we can expect to have that paid off, because we, the taxpayers, will now be paying billions of interest on that loan every year until it’s paid off.

How are they going to unite us as a country, instead of dividing us into political subdivisions? What will they do differently from what they did in their first terms, because it didn’t work. Be specific!

We could go on all day with questions we would like to ask Biden and Trump, and they owe it to the people to be open and honest while giving us specific details of their next four years, along with their vision for America for the next 40 years.

What do you think the odds are these two will actually debate? And will Robert Kennedy Jr. be able to debate alongside Trump and Biden, or will the two parties do what they always do and shut down outside competition?

Let me know what you think of a 2024 presidential debate at gregawtry@awtry.com.