Most commentators have argued that President Obama scored major points by "debating" House Republicans at their recent legislative retreat. Think Progress reports that, off-the-record, some Republicans regret allowing cameras to capture the event. Alas, here is the video footage of the proceedings.
7 comments:
Darren, it was a great move on Obamas part to have this televised live. He was in command and masterful. The repubs tried their hardest to trip him up and when they couldn't they got kinda testy. I'll be surprised if we see another live performance like yesterdays, the repubs hate it when they are exposed!!
Sue: Unless they are totally masochistic, I think you're right - no more televised debates.
It was good TV, I admit. Wish Obama did it more often and with other groups, too -- like progressives, for example.
Elizabeth: I think Obama would rather face Republicans than progressives at this point. I for one have some pretty harsh questions for him.
Obama did well. He is a smart and likeable guy.
The liberal media claims he did great and pretends it will make a difference (and/or tries to cause it to make a difference by claiming it did). It will make no difference. No one will remember it in a week. Long term, it might even help republicans because Obama recognized they were making legitimate proposals and treated them as important. There might even be a sound bite or two that republicans can use to counter arguments that they are not proposing anything.
If I was handling Obama, I would advise against a repeat performance. It is too high risk. It is like the risk of putting a witness on the stand, not knowing he questions and risking a stumble by the witness. It is a high risk, low reward situation.
The only way to increase the potential reward would be to commit to regular high profile sessions and hope Obama puts in repeat high quality performances without a significant misstep. It seems to high risk, expecially for a risk adverse politician.
Leticia, I agree. I too have some questions for Obama and would be eager to ask him directly. (Though I could predict his response already...)
Sadly, KC, I agree with you too: this will not make a significant impact on policy-making, and "experts" are already scoring it in terms of political "victory" (or lack of it), as always missing the larger point: that this is not -- or should not be -- just about political wins and losses, but about actual lives of real people who depend on their reps to do the right thing. (Not that this ever really mattered for politicos.)
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