Charlie Gibson and George Stephanapoulos are getting substantial criticism today for the way they conducted themselves in last night’s ABC News Obama-Clinton debate.

Tom Shales, for example:

Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances

But here’s the best point we’ve seen, raised in classicly elegant but matter-of-fact C-SPAN style.  It’s “Washington Journal” host Susan Swain interviewing Michael Hagan of Temple University this morning:

“Last night was an opportunity to watch George Stephanopoulos, who worked in the Clinton administration, question his former boss.  A number of people, Tim Russert, worked in politics before, but this is a fairly close and recent association.  How should moderators such as Mr. Stephanopoulos talk to the viewers about what their own –  about what they bring to the table?”

Here’s Hagan’s response:

“Well, I think that it is an interesting question, and that’s one that will be raised today in the light of the sentiment that is held in some quarters that the moderators were tougher on Senator Obama than on Senator Clinton.  I think it will be interesting to see how Mr. Stephanopoulos responds to that kind of questioning.”

Interesting, indeed.  A skillful question to ask — and equally important to answer.