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Listening to this session really underscored for me how important it is for rank-and-file Democrats (and others who support Obama) to participate in these kinds of public events.
The first two questions, and the ones that were apparently highest-ranked to be asked of Obama, were retreads regurgitated from the drubbing he gave the GOP:
Paraphrasing:
"How can anyone trust you when you said the process of creating the healthcare bill would be transparent and it wasn't?"
"How can anyone trust you when you've broken so many campaign promises, especially with regard to..." -- to tell you the truth, I forget what it was now and the video's not up yet, but in fact, Obama had not broken his promise on it.
But, in saying that, it is a democracy and it's good to get these questions out front, as it gives Obama the opportunity to personally refute the nonsense.
Second:
As far as we go (with "we" being "the left") idealism is great, but in a way, it also creates it's own deficit of critical thinking, particularly with regard to the practicality of implementing what seems at first to be no-brainer ideas.
For instance, there was a question from a young lady that seemed to include the kind of veiled "a lot of young people voted for you, so you'd better do what we say" threat that is all-too-common on DU, who wanted to know why Obama supports nuclear energy and clean coal technology, and why doesn't he just banish all the bad stuff right away (paraphrasing). Obama's answer included the consideration that new technologies need to be phased in in stages in order to keep up with the current energy demands of the country, which alternative energy on its own right now cannot support. As Obama would say, here's the thing: when it comes to many of the conclusions I see "the left" make about why Obama is/isn't doing something, many times, we go for the worst motive first, without considering there may be practical reasons for his actions we either aren't aware of, or haven't thought through. In this kind of magical thinking, oftentimes we make ourselves no more knowlegeable or useful than wingnuts, in my opinion.
But as I'd started to say, in reading through the CitizenTube page of questions that were to be considered to be asked of the president, it's a rogue's gallery of teabaggers, pro-trolls, marijuana enthusiasts and the garden-variety mentally disturbed. It would be nice to see serious questions from Democrats, or at least from the sensible, prevailing. Last week, I read Obama's call to lend the Democratic Party our voice, passion and time, and this is one way to do it. I didn't become aware of this until it was too late to submit a question, but I will certainly be doing so next time.
It was a good session, though, and the video should be up soon on whitehouse.gov and citizentube.com
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