It's been quite a long time since I've posted anything here, due to many factors, not least of which is a new, very intense quarter of studies that began shortly after the New Year. In that time there have been scads of news stories that are of major interest to me, and potentially to some of my (admittedly few) readers out there. A few of those stories include the election of Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts and the subsequent wrench that has been thrown into the White House and Congress' plans to pass health care reform; Paul Volcker's elevation by President Obama through a new drive for financial reform; and the reconfirmation of Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve Chair. I hope to cover these other stories, at least in passing, in subsequent posts.
While I have missed the opportunity to comment on those major stories, I thought tonight would be an appropriate time to at least restart this blog in the new year by pointing your attention to a video of President Obama's fascinating Q&A session with the House Republican Caucus at their annual retreat in Baltimore today. It's unclear how much of this historic and enlightening event the mainstream media will cover in their newscasts, however I can't recommend watching the clip in its entirety enough. I read somewhere today that the last time a sitting president took questions from members of Congress was in 1974 when President Ford addressed Congress about Nixon's resignation. This is democracy in action folks, the sharing and debating of ideas. President Obama absolutely makes mincemeat out of the Republican talking points while at the same time remaining respectful of their ideas. Beyond that, however, in a few of his answers Obama engages his meta-themes of criticizing sensationalist media coverage and calling for a return to respectful, vigorous discourse between the parties. He most skillfully demonstrates how to have vigorous yet respectful discourse by systematically dismantling the false assumptions and facts that underlie the questions the Republicans pose to him (including one from Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas that claims that Obama's monthly deficits are larger than any of President Bush's annual deficits! Insane!) The President calmly yet firmly argues that when Republicans demonize the opposition and make claims that Obama is trying to create a "Fascist" or "Socialist" government, the politicians paint themselves into a very small corner with their constituents, message-wise. Once they are stuck in that corner, they will not be able to negotiate with the White House very easily, as their constituents will accuse them of having sold-out to the White House. He's a very deft politician, our President, and that deftness was on full display today.
Between the State of the Union and today, I wonder if we're getting Candidate Obama back? The fighting, tough-talking candidate who won a landslide election? Now that we have President Obama, we need him to follow the talking up with doing, but this is a good start, nonetheless.
