Obama's Q&A with House Republicans
Obama stuck his head in the lion’s mouth today, showing up at a retreat for House Republicans, making some opening remarks and then taking questions from GOP leaders for over an hour. If Twitter is to be believed, Ezra Klein called it “the most compelling political television I’ve seen…maybe ever.” And Ezra Klein, one would imagine, watches a lot of T.V.
Obama looked so good in a room full of his enemies that FOX news cut away early (MSNBC and CNN stayed with it). Peter Daou asked, “How strategically inept of Republicans to put themselves in a position where Obama can school them on live TV?” but I think this missed the import of the moment. Here’s why.
Obama has been itching for an open debate with the GOP since the election. Even the televised presidential debates didn’t really do it for him, because the format only allows for ad hoc speechifying, not the kind of detailed, nuanced answers Obama likes to give. But the GOP has been refusing to make counter-proposal or debate issues. All they’ll say is “No.”
The ONLY way Obama could get these guys to enter into a discourse with him was to agree to a format that seemed to put him at an incredible disadvantage. If there’s one thing the GOP loves, it’s gang rape, and so the idea of a 100 against 1 dogpile was too much for them to resist. One is tempted to make an allusion to Thermypolae, because such an allusion would be apt.
Except Obama wasn’t 300 guys. He was just one.
The fact that this turned out so well for him is probably a fuction of there being cameras in the room, and that will lead most Republicans to forget the lessons they learned today while they do damage control and call Obama “pedantic.” But the decision to televise the Q&A was, by all accounts, a last-minute deal, and Obama didn’t go there to embarrass anybody. He went there to confront the entrenched power of the GOP, power that had previously refused to even hear him. He answered their questions, called them out on their bullshit, and told them that if they had better ideas, he would listen.
And it was spectacular. Get a snack, sit back, and enjoy.
Fri., Jan. 29, 2010
Reader Comments (2)
My President kicks ass.
Keith Olberman said, "One gets the impression that the President could recite the phone extension of every person in the White House if asked." You're not going to beat him on the facts, ever.