Television's impact on elections was both good and bad. We remember that it focused attention on the telegenic features of Kennedy while shunning the sweating Nixon. By itself, this is bad for democracy. But what if that's the price we pay for the extra benefit that television gave us in examining presidents? To connect with our leaders, we should see them on a regular basis. We forget that for many millennia, we lived under kingdoms or nations where most people couldn't visualize who their rulers were.

The significant jumps in the scrutiny of leaders probably came from the invention of newspapers, television, and social media. Each device came with its negative, demagogic side effect: newspapers had Yellow journalism; television had Hitler; social media has Trump. But we also had the Federalist papers, the televising of the Vietnam War, and Barack Obama.