Video versus the written word

Playing around with Seesmic during Twitter's downtime today, I couldn't help but feel much more superficial recording, and re-recording videos trying to get them just right, just like I do every day with writing.

Here's a question. The Kennedy-Nixon debate of 1960 is a pivotal moment in the history of TV as well as politics. Remember, people who listened on radio thought Nixon won, but TV viewers judged JFK the winner.

As videoblogging enters the mainstream, is the social media sphere going to become as superficial as TV is? Is the quality of the debate going to decline?

The beauty of what blogs have done for media and our national conversations is they've allowed ideas to take precedence over production and presentation. I fear that the emergence of video may hurt that marketplace of ideas.

Thoughts?