FINAL UPDATE: (A quick after-hours wrap-up) --
For those who missed it, this afternoon Pres. Obama hosted a townhall meeting in Costa Mesa, CA. From the crowd’s reaction one wouldn’t know that he was deep inside enemy territory – he got an extremely warm reception and even got to use his old "I love you back" line.
Despite the best efforts of the punditry that followed the live coverage on both CNN and MSNBC (FauxNews had riveting stories on a rescued yellow lab and a cow that gave birth to triplets [note: this is not a joke]), I think the Prez did a great job. In addition to reminding us of why we like and trust him simply by exercising his amazing charisma, he made some very important points regarding the current financial clusterf**k and his agenda for the future. The whole thing was basically an antidote to the way Republicans and media "critics" have been trying to frame recent developments and the Prez’s proposals.
He addressed the AIG/bailout outrage (I’m agry too!) and displayed serious leadership by claiming ownership of the problem ("the buck stops with me"). He was particularly effective in explaining the necessity of intervening in the financial markets and keeping certain large institutions afloat – a real political minefield if there ever was one. Glad to see someone still cares about educating the public.
The Prez also did a great job refuting the recent media talking points, in particular whether he is "trying to do too much" and the preposterous charges of "socialism!" He tried to take back control of the whole "tax and spend" argument by putting things in perspective (the rich weren’t exactly going hungry under Clinton) and stressing the need of restoring some fairness and balance to the system (we must revive the middle class so that the whole economy can do better).
During the Q&A session, he took several questions from "real people" (recently fired teacher, ex-auto worker) and got to address issues like unionization, education/immigration reforms, consumer bill of rights etc. He made clear that no one had been prescreened. One of the highlights was when he was asked about reelection. His response (which the crowd seemed to love) was that he would prefer to be pres. for 4 years and be a great president than being in office for 8 years and be a mediocre one.
I encourage everyone to watch the event in its entirety on C-Span:
http://www.cspan.org/...
These public appearances are extremely constructive, IMO. They seem to recharge both his supporters and the Prez himself. He is clearly aware of the importance of bypassing the media filter and has three other upcoming public appearances. See if you can catch him in one or all of the following:
** Jay Leno tomorrow (Thursday) night
** 60 Minutes this Sunday
** Prime-Time News Conference next Tuesday, March 24 @ 8pm EDT
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ORIGINAL ENTRY:
I'll delete this in a bit, just wanted to let people know that Obama is currently holding a townhall meeting in Costa Mesa, CA.
I see it being carried live on CNN and MSNBC. CNN also has a livestream here.
Thus far he has acknowledged the AIG Bonus debacle, reasserted the notion that "the buck stops here", and is now speaking about his Administration's economic initiatives.
Let's hope he is successful in tempering the populist outrage and manages to build some support for his budget. The crowd seems extremely receptive.
I'd love to hear people's opinions, if anyone here is watching...
UPDATE: His speech just ended and he's now taking questions from the public. Awesome.
Also wanted to add that C-Span is also streaming it here.
LATE UPDATE: I just noticed BlackBox had posted a LiveBlog on this event a few minutes before I did. There’s some good discussion going on there. However, my Diary also has quite a few comments, so I’ll leave this up.