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Nice job with our Question Time in Mock Commons today. Friday, President Obama did the uncommon, especially in today's partisan political days. He spoke to House Republican leaders at the retreat in Baltimore. This from the Washington Post's Ezra Klein:
"Remember the old joke, "I was at a fight and a hockey game broke out?" Well, earlier this afternoon, I was at a photo opportunity and a policy debate broke out.
Obama's Q&A session with the House Republicans was transfixing. What should have been a banal exchange of talking points was actually a riveting reminder of how rarely you hear actual debate -- which is separate from disagreement -- between political players.
This was a surprise. The session was clearly proposed so that Obama could appear to be taking real steps to reach out to Republicans. That implied warm feelings and a studied unwillingness to cause offense. But that was not the event we just saw. Instead, Obama stood at a podium for an hour and hammered his assailants. That makes it sound partisan and disrespectful. But it wasn't. It was partisan, but respectful."
Watch it if you missed it, and post what you think here. Should the U.S. have more of a real question time for the President like they do for the PM in Great Britain?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/01/presidents_question_time.html
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