I don't think it should be standard. It would become formulaic, and boring, and
it would be abused as a forum to ask unanswerable gotcha questions. But it
would be a good idea to have them on an as-needed basis.
--- On Thu, 2/4/10, Tracey de Morsella <tdli...@multiculturaladvantage.com>
wrote:
From: Tracey de Morsella <tdli...@multiculturaladvantage.com>
Subject: [scifinoir2] White House Shoots Down Regular Question Time Forums
To: "' Lockhart, Daryle '" <dar...@darylelockhart.com>,
afrikanm...@hotmail.com, "'Albert Fields'" <cbilmarket...@yahoo.com>,
bettil...@msn.com, "CINQUE " <cinque3...@verizon.net>,
dorothyh...@sbcglobal.net, duva...@hotmail.com, fis...@bellsouth.net, "'GTW'"
<gwashin...@aol.com>, "'Jeffrey Ballou'" <jeffreypbal...@gmail.com>, "'Kai
Pettaway'" <killa...@gmail.com>, kalpub...@aol.com, keithbjohn...@comcast.net,
"'Kera'" <imke...@gmail.com>, "'Leroy Hughes'" <seriousnup...@yahoo.com>,
"'Logic'" <logic1...@aol.com>, "'Martin Baxter'" <truthseeker...@icqmail.com>,
"'Marvalous'" <mmb1...@gmail.com>, "'Michael Gordon'" <gord...@indiana.edu>,
michael.v.w.gor...@gmail.com, "'ravenadal'" <ravena...@yahoo.com>,
rs...@yahoo.com, "'Seku Brathwaite'" <everything...@nyc.rr.com>, "'Valery
Jean'" <valeryjea...@yahoo.com>, "'Wendell Theophilus Smith'"
<wendellsmit...@gmail.com>, "'Whitney J Evans'"
<sonofafieldne...@sbcglobal.net>, williamsf...@speakeasy.net, "'Zanfordino
Anthony'" <beta...@yahoo.com>
Cc: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, February 4, 2010, 12:13 AM
Despite the widespread popularity of President Obama's question-and- answer
forums and the apparent boost they've given to his agenda, the White House shot
down a proposal on Wednesday to make such open forums a regular feature.
Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton relayed the news during Wednesday's
briefing, calling the idea of standardizing "question time" good in
concept but impractical in practice.
"David Axelrod has talked about this a little," Burton said.
"And what he had to say is: part of the reason Friday was so successful
with the GOP conference was the spontaneity that occurred there. And it is
going to be hard to recreate the spontaneity that happened."
Burton added that the president "thinks that there is space for more
open dialogue, and he is going to look for more opportunities to do things on
camera and have open discussions on important issues." But it was clear
that the administration is not willing to incorporate a
British-parliament- style Q&A session into American governance. An
interesting question for constitutional scholars is whether Congress has the
power to make this happen on its own. Meanwhile, the last time the president
held an open news conference with reporters was back in late July.
The push was on the White House to commit to such forums on a regular basis
after the largely positive reception to Obama's appearance before a gathering
of House Republicans on Friday. A diverse coalition of political strategists,
bloggers and
officials released a petition on Wednesday morning titled "Demand Question
Time".
http://www.huffingt onpost.com/ 2010/02/03/ white-house- shoots-down-
r_n_448022. html
