The Illusion Of Democracy

Ben Smith at Politico points out some of the problems with Obama's Internet townhall. As I posted the other day, the event is the strategy. Of the millions of questions submitted, many of them from Obama fans, the notion that the majority are even being read is silly. It only allows people to think they are really being engaged. It reminded me of the type of democracy they are currently experiencing in Britain, noted in another Brit video blasting Brown being circulated - see below. Major changes take place and the people never even get to vote. If you think it can't happen here - it's already happening all the time. Look at what's happening in Colorado regarding the Taxpayer Bill of Rights - see here and here.

Ensuring a friendly audience for online town hall

 The White House will hold an online town hall today at 11:30 a.m., answering questions drawn from a list voted on by visitors to WhiteHouse.gov's Open for Questions.

This is, at first blush -- and in reality -- a form of real transparency, in which the president goes around the media but responds to real Americans. More than 3.6 million people voted on questions submitted by more than 92,000, and many of the top questions are smart and substantive.

The event should not be mistaken, however, for a perfect reflection of the concerns of the American people, or even of American Internet users, for two reasons.

 

Comments

[The problem with these systems]

The problems Ben Smith points out have been obvious to me for over a year and a half. See the discussion at my name's link including a list of past efforts which were little more than shams. That also includes a brief description of a better way to do things; a more detailed description is here:

http://nomoreblather.com/how-to-make-the-cnn-youtube-debate-worthwhile

Note that that's from July 2007. Good to see Ben Smith catching up.

[mark l.]

it is one thing to have a teleprompter for all public appearances.

the thought of having a 'faux' townhall meeting where the questions are preselected and the answers are prepared in advance is the height of hypocrisy.

the essence of a townhall meeting is that people get to meet the speaker, in his own words. Obama's problem?
He remains an empty vessel.

[Jimbo]

Mark, for the love of God please STFU. After 8 yrs of Bush - who couldn't walk and fart at the same time - we finally have an educated and honorable man in the WH. For someone like you (dubious education, uninformed watercarrier for all things GOP, worshiper of the imperial 'W' to even suggest our current president is an empty vessel speaks volums for your own awareness (or lack thereof).

Pls, keep watching and bowing to Limbaugh. He is your man. You chose him. You deserve each other.
Palin/Plumber 2012!

[Todd]

The height of hypocrisy cuts both ways. Bush never had a town hall meeting that wasn't stocked with hard core Republicans and/or US military, with people never assailing Bush given his 27% approval ratings, and fawning over Bush for his keeping the country safe by going to war. It had to be by invitation only given there were never any tough questions for the man.

[Marko]

Hey Jimbo, here is the great educated Obamao without a teleprompter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDJSVPAx8xc

There are too many examples of these to include in a short note, but this one does suffice.

No one deserves this Obamination of a theif.

As the great O would say; Uh, thanks for uh, your uh, vote Jimbo, Go uh, Acorn!

[MarkJ]

Jimbo,

If Bush was such a total incompetent...why are you still alive and making stupid posts? You should have killed in a jihadi shopping mall attack years ago.

[Lala]

I laugh at people who think Obama is educated. The man says nothing.

[MarkJ]

And as for you, Todd, how's it feel to be now on permanent defense? A year from now, you'll be looking around at a world gone to s*** while muttering to yourself, "How could Obama let this happen? If only Dear Leader knew what was really going on, he'd put a stop to it."

[anon]

I thought Obama was all about change...so, since Bush did it, now that makes it okay for Obama to do it too? LOL, my worst fear confirmed.

Obama knows how to do only one thing and that is give speeches. The scary thing is, I think he's the one who is really running things and making decisions.

[IslamoLlama]

So, I don't know if you actually visited the site, but people can vote on the questions they want answered. And questions that get the most votes are the ones he addresses in the town hall. Now, I'm sure you'll just wave your hands and proclaim the whole thing is rigged. But it does beg the question - why would Obama have an internet town hall meeting just to answer questions no one asked or is interested in having answered? Wouldn't this be somewhat self-defeating?

One of the major flaws of the Bush town hall meetings was that no one outside the Republican Kool Aid tent had the stomach to listen to them. It was nothing but wall to wall little old ladies and military veterans telling Bush what a great job he was doing and asking him how much he enjoyed being such a swell guy.

For christ's sake, the party employed a gay hooker to sit in and pitch softball questions to Bush about how terrible he thought the opposition was. Bush's bits weren't just theater, they were theater no one wanted to watch. By contrast, Obama is getting asked question - the question on legalizing marijuana for instance - that he only addressed due to massive popular demand. And even then he pissed a lot of people off with his response.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/26/obama-takes-pot-legalizat_n_179563.html

"-- THE PRESIDENT: Three point five million people voted. I have to say that there was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy -- (laughter) -- and job creation. And I don't know what this says about the online audience -- (laughter) -- but I just want -- I don't want people to think that -- this was a fairly popular question; we want to make sure that it was answered. The answer is, no, I don't think that is a good strategy -- (laughter) -- to grow our economy. (Applause.) So -- all right. --"

One would question why the President would even field this question if it was all kabuki theater.

"-- No one deserves this Obamination of a theif. --"

That's thief. With an i before the e.

[anon]

It is still a fully scripted, canned PR event. The fact that it may be a more savvy version of a scripted, canned, fully controlled PR event that those that George Bush engineered isn't much to brag about.

Barak Obama appears to really like the sound of his own voice and the only thing he seems to like about governing is doing media events.

[Some questions]

"why would Obama have an internet town hall meeting just to answer questions no one asked or is interested in having answered"

Compare the stoned-out-of-their-wee-minds pot question to anyone of the ones at my name's link. If you don't understand the difference between the one that was asked and my questions and you don't think any one of mine is far more worthy, go to a rehab clinic and stay there.

[mark l.]

jimbo/jharp-

After 8 yrs of Bush, 11 trillion dollars of debt.

After eight years of obama, 20 trillion dollars of debt.

am i missing something? is that a legacy to be proud of?

[Mark Turner]

"we finally have an educated and honorable man in the WH"

If you do a little research, you will find that most if not all presidents have impressive academic credentials -- as do many of the most monstrous leaders that the world has ever known. Academic credentials do not by default make you correct or "honorable". What is "honorable" about Obama, above and beyond all the previous presidents in US history? Nothing demonstrable at this point.

[Terry Gain]

Where's Obama's next campaign stop?

[IslamoLlama]

"-- am i missing something? is that a legacy to be proud of? --"

Day 68 of the Obama Presidency.
A Legacy in Shambles.

Wow, that was fast.

[mark l.]

obama has provided his own budget, complete with projections.

this isn't some mythical gop talking point. obama, himself, has offerred that the debt will increase by 9.2 trillion. Under bush it increased by about half the amount.

talking points?
the cost of the iraq war? obama is going to spend 9 times as much.
reckless gop spending? if there are some gop programs that obama wants to cut, I'd love to hear about them.

on day 68 of his presidency, he has already stated his 'goals'.

if running twice as much debt as bush is one of his goals, I wouldn't be too optimisitic about his legacy.

[mark l.]

"President Barack Obama's budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade, more than four times the deficits of Republican George W. Bush's presidency, congressional auditors said Friday."

http://kezi.com/news/national/100139

please lama, tell me how this is good.

would you call this a 'successful presidency'?

we are eight years removed from a balanced budget. obama is making no overture to return to a balanced budget for the next eight years.

If you were proud of clinton(while ignoring the congressional role) for balancing a budget, you simulataneously hold no disappointment in the president or the congress?

I still think the senate is beyond the gop's reach, but obama will lose the house in the next midterm.
this won't be a reflection of a new and improved gop, just a sign of the abject disappointment in obama/dems failure to provide what was promised.

at present-obama is promising debt as far as the eye can see.

[mark l.]

I have to commend the 'wis-doom' of the WH when it comes to dealing with limbaugh.
his ratings are up 50%.

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2009/03/rush-limbaugh-talk-radio-experience.html

please libs, keep ridiculing a guy who is opposed to massive debt. It just furthers the argument of how out of touch the liberal dems are. (I point to 'liberal' dems, becuase it seems that 15 democratic senators have moved away from your party).

Let me borrow a phrase from harry reid: "the war is lost". you just haven't realized it yet.

[Philip McDaniel]

"we finally have an educated and honorable man in the WH"
LOL!
Oh yes, President Chucklehead, a Marxist from the wards of Chicago. Depends on the definition of ‘educated’ and ‘honorable’…especially ‘honorable’. We haven’t even begun to see what a disaster this cluster is.