If you have, oh, 60 or so minutes to spare, I give you one of the most engrossing, and compelling piece of political theater I have seen in quite some time.
After delivering his State of the Union Address on Wednesday, President Obama visited GOP leaders to talk about the issues on Friday. What was meant to be an untelevised discussion ended up being Question Time, a traditional event in the United Kingdom,but completely unheard of in the US, where the Prime Minister is grilled by members of Parliament, broadcasted live. The end result was President Obama taking each point raised against his budget, healthcare reform, his stimulus, and his efforts at bipartisanship, by Republican party members and tearing it apart, piece by piece. He managed to extemporaneously defend his policies and approaches, all while being civil and cool-headed.
As one Republican official said after the first Q&A ever of this type, bringing the cameras in was a “mistake.”
It sure was. For the Republicans, however, it wasn’t all bad. Many party leaders afterwards were very enthusiastic about this back-and-forth, saying it showed the American people they indeed have ideas to solve our country’s problems. They might’ve just been trying to hide the tears, but they’re right about the benefits of this type of discussion.
This might be the beginning of a new tradition: Question Time might finally come to America. And with it, trusting Washington might begin an upswing.
Enjoy:
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Tags: gop · obama · question time1 Comment
[...] week’s Q&A, the American version of the British Question Time, shook the grizzly [...]