Obama At His Best

Did anyone watch the entire Q&A session that the President had with the GOP Caucus the other day? If you haven't seen it, it is compelling public affairs programming worth spending the time to see.

I am sure that the Republicans rue the decision to let cameras broadcast live the 1 hour and 20 minute give and take session in Baltimore! It was a rare moment of truth as the Republican Caucus squared off with a man who was unafraid to call them out repeatedly for their use of half truths and misinformation regarding many of the issues that the GOP has demonized the Democrats with over the last year. President Obama had a command of the facts and issues that shot holes in most of the arguments used to accuse the Democrats of, among other things, bloating the federal deficit, foisting socialist health care reform on the country, and granting ‘boutique’ tax cuts to selected groups in America.

On its surface, it was actually a civil exchange. However, each Republican who asked a question of the President began the question with an accusation or a false assumption that Obama promptly poked holes through before he responded with a cogent and intelligent response, enumerating the false premises in the question and then answering with clarity and precision.

It was clear that the people in the room could not make headway with political positioning statements. The President indicated repeatedly that those kinds of false assumptions boxed them into positions with their constituents that left them no room for negotiating solutions. Over and over Obama pointed out to them that the way they were asking their questions promoted an atmosphere of rancor designed to further their campaign positioning in the upcoming elections, rather than seeking an atmosphere of negotiation and problem solving arrived at by true compromise. The Republicans were flummoxed!

It was a rare moment indeed and gave me hope that Obama would actually make some progress in finding common ground with the Republicans. What he showed in that session was his determination to engage in real, useful discussion that could possibly lead to real solutions. It was frankly more leadership than I had come to expect from him lately. One only hopes that he will somehow find a way to drag the Republicans into the public eye repeatedly in this way so he can effect some real progress toward change by exposing the GOP’s intractability and penchant for non-productive confrontation.

The news media should re-broadcast the session in its entirety instead of spinning it only as a confrontational moment. Maybe then some of the conservative lemmings in this country would start using their brains and realize that the only way out of our problems is to work toward compromise.