Video: Obama Fields Questions From GOP

Well, I'd suggest you take remedial training in mind-reading, because you're really bad at it.

Good to see the transparency on discussions between the President and the GOP. Shines a light for the voters on the inner workings of the party as well as on the willingness or unwillingness of the President and opposing party members to truly be bipartisan. Case in point, Price from GA.

Now would it be too much to ask that the President and the Dems be equally transparent? Take anyone of the current hot-button issues being debated in Congress right now. It sure would be refreshing to see these debates on CSPAN and be able to identify who the reasonable Dems are as well as the unbending nut-cases in the Dem party.

Of course, this will never happen. Transparency to Obama and the Dems is required only of the GOP.

Well, for once I'm glad to be proven wrong...Talk to you next week after that meeting.

Despite the widespread popularity of President Obama's question-and-answer forums and the apparent boost they've given to his agenda, the White House shot down a proposal on Wednesday to make such open forums a regular feature.

Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton relayed the news during Wednesday's briefing, calling the idea of standardizing "question time" good in concept but impractical in practice.

"David Axelrod has talked about this a little," Burton said. "And what he had to say is: part of the reason Friday was so successful with the GOP conference was the spontaneity that occurred there. And it is going to be hard to recreate the spontaneity that happened."

Burton added that the president "thinks that there is space for more open dialogue, and he is going to look for more opportunities to do things on camera and have open discussions on important issues." But it was clear that the administration is not willing to incorporate a British-parliament-style Q&A session into American governance. An interesting question for constitutional scholars is whether Congress has the power to make this happen on its own. Meanwhile, the last time the president held an open news conference with reporters was back in late July.

Got no idea what Axelrod is talking about when he speaks of "spontaneity". I speculate that they originally recognized the risk Obama was taking in meeting with the opposition party but couldn't dissuade him. They were then surprised about the favorable response but attributed it as a one-time good thing and decided not to accept the risk on a regular basis.

Too bad...I think Obama's promise for more and more transparency is compromised severely when events like this are dismissed.

Senate Democrats held back from asking President Barack Obama about healthcare reform during a carefully scripted question-and-answer session in front of television cameras.

With the cameras rolling, a group of senators selected in advance by the Democratic leadership asked questions about such topics as partisan gridlock and GOP obstruction.

But once the president left and reporters were escorted out of the room, senators pressed White House officials about healthcare reform, according to those at the meeting.
Democrats expressed their frustration with the lack of a clear plan for passing healthcare reform, according to one person in the room.

One Democratic senator even grew heated in his remarks, according to the source.

“It wasn’t a discussion about how to get from Point A to Point B; it was a discussion about the lack of a plan to get from Point A to Point B,” said a person who attended the meeting. “Many of the members were frustrated, but one person really expressed his frustration.”

Senators did not want to press Obama on healthcare reform in front of television cameras for fear of putting him in an awkward spot.

“There was a vigorous discussion about that afterward with some of his top advisers and others,” Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said regarding the healthcare discussion.

“I think people were probably aware that there was no easy answer and this is being broadcast on live national television and didn’t want to put him on the spot,” Bayh said.

“There was a vigorous discussion about that afterward with some of his top advisers and others,” Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said regarding the healthcare discussion.

This is my point. If the meeting didn't play out like you think it would, you'd be accusing the dems of muzzling. You'd probably not be satisfied that any of the questions were tough enough.

Well, I'd suggest you take remedial training in mind-reading, because you're really bad at it.

Well looks like scripting and muzzling of the more dissatisfied Dem Senators did occur, just not in front of the President...not clear if that muzzling was voluntary or coerced...