On The West Wing, the President and his staff were preparing for debate were looking for "the ten word answer", on crime, defense, education, etc. The issues were to be boiled down to a 10 word answer that would keep things simple. However, as the President pointed out, what about the 10 words after that? And the 10 words after that??

That's the problem. Candidates that are trying to keep things quick and easy aren't giving these issues the depth they deserve.