Big Questions for President Obama's Big Press Conference

It is rough out there, but President Obama appears to take it in stride. He is juggling crises, promoting a huge new budget and, to his credit, regularly making his case to the people.

On Tuesday, Obama is holding the second prime time press conference of his first 100 days, keeping him on par with President Bush's early pace for press conferences. (Bush held pressers in February and March of 2001, though he did not tackle prime time, when far more people watch live, until May.) These events are a rare, valuable opportunity for the public to hear the President questioned directly. The press, for its part, is given the responsibility to set the agenda for important policy questions and the public interest priorities that the President should address. In that spirit, here are just a few questions for the big event:

1. Will The Washington Post ask about sports again? Really. The Post used its question at Obama's first presser to ask how he felt about Alex Rodriguez' steroid use. "The Washington Post asked the only question that did not involve domestic or foreign policy," recounted one website devoted to steroids, "and was widely criticized as being inappropriate given the importance of other issues discussed during the prime-time presidential press conference."

2. Will NBC's Chuck Todd ask a question submitted by a regular citizen? He has been collecting questions, asking his own readers and offering to read top questions from our new project, Ask The President. On Monday, Todd told Rachel Maddow about his interest in citizen questions -- will he actually use one?

3. Will President Obama call on more New Media? President Obama made some waves at his first press conference by calling on The Huffington Post. Will Obama now move beyond brand name, well-funded new media and empower a less famous outlet for citizen journalism? While it did not get much play, Obama's team deserves credit for credentialing some less famous blog sites to attend the first press conference, such as AMERICAblog. But bloggers should be seen and heard.

4. Will reporters quote citizens -- or their questions -- to channel public concerns on the economy? The backlash to AIG bonuses swiftly drew its own media backlash. Columnists urged the public to "stay calm" and Newsweek even rushed out an issue promising a "thinking man's guide" to the "perils" of public anger. "Populist rage... can be cathartic," explains a company press release, yet it "can also lead to bad decisions." If the public's feelings on the economy are important, it would be useful to hear some of them accurately presented to the President. Our citizen portal, for example, already drew over 35,000 votes in its first five days, and includes many Americans writing in their own voice about their concerns on the economy, health care, and how the nation should conquer this crisis.

5. Will any reporters go beyond the (hugely important) economic issues to ask about the recently released memos claiming the President has the power to suspend the Bill of Rights? Obama rightly released a series of disturbing claims to presidential power by the Bush administration, but the public discussion has not advanced much since then. What, if anything, is his administration doing to achieve accountability for these undemocratic memos that operated as secret law in the U.S. for roughly seven years?

If you have more questions, please leave them in the comments. Some White House correspondents might even be watching.

-

Update: In the Washington Post, Jose Antonio Vargas discusses our effort to open up the presidential press conferences in a new piece assessing WhiteHouse.Gov:

Anxious to have some of kind of bottom-up, grassroots participation come out of the White House, Ari Melber, a writer for The Nation, has spearheaded "Ask the President," an online-based effort that allows users to post questions and vote for their favorite questions they would like to be able to ask Obama. Voting on the posted questions will stop a few hours before the president's scheduled news conference tonight, and credentialed journalists are free borrow the most-voted questions from the site.

Vargas also discusses three big metrics for judging the White House website -- I think these also make good goals for government and the press in general:

* Transparency. Save for genuinely sensitive information and activities -- say, nuclear weapons design -- is WhiteHouse.gov serving as an X-ray of the inner workings of the White House?

* Accessibility. Is the site, for all age groups, functionally and visually easy to navigate?

* Engagement. Is WhiteHouse.gov offering a two-way street? In other words, is the site talking at us, or with us? There's a key difference

Finally, here is Chuck Todd's conversation with Rachel Maddow about taking questions from citizens for President Obama:

Comments (28)

1. here's a question for mr. obama:

   what do you think of this:

   II. The desirable goal of reforming the international monetary system, therefore, is to create an international reserve currency that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies.

   1. Though the super-sovereign reserve currency has long since been proposed, yet no substantive progress has been achieved to date. Back to the 1940s, Keynes had already proposed to introduce an international currency unit named "Bancor", based on the value of 30 representative commodities. Unfortunately, the proposal was not accepted. The collapse of the Bretton Woods system, which was based on the White approach, indicates that the Keynesian approach may be more farsighted. The IMF also created the SDR in 1969, when the defects of the Bretton Woods system initially emerged, to mitigate the inherent risks sovereign reserve currencies caused. Yet, the role of the SDR has not been put into full play due to limitations on its allocation and the scope of its uses. However, it serves as the light in the tunnel for the reform of the international monetary system.

   from: Reform the International Monetary System

   Zhou xiaochuan, Governor, People's Bank of China

   2009-3-23 17:39:00

   Posted by frosty zoom at 03/23/2009 @ 9:39pm

2. Here are the biggest and trendiest Qs.......

   Who and where is John Galt?

   Posted by Happy at 03/23/2009 @ 10:04pm

3. While most of us realize that the banking system in in serious trouble... it seems clear that much of the financial damage was self inflicted and was not caused by the American people, who are paying a terrible price with our homes, jobs and savings... above and beyond the previous losses of jobs overseas. Sympathy doesn't pay the bills, and as of yet, there is no bailout on the horizon for millions and millions of people struck down as is were... out of the blue... out of luck... and out of options. We are straining, and we need help... but by our sense of pride and heritage we are obliged to ask for help long after it is needed... if we ask at all.

   Why is it taking so long for the government to relieve us of this misery... and when will the people of this country become the priority our forefathers intended us to be?

   Posted by ttr at 03/23/2009 @ 10:11pm

4. Posted by ttr at 03/23/2009 @ 10:11pm | ignore this person | warn this person

   The only Americans eligible for Porkulus money and mortagee assistence are those who show absolutely NO personal responsibility or accountability by maxing out their credit cards, defaulting on Cdt.Crds. and bank loans, and those buying homes beyond their income capabilities! If you pay your bills, pay off your home, and save; to bad!

   Posted by comancheamerican at 03/23/2009 @ 10:20pm

5. All excellent questions, Ari.

   Related to the Bill of Rights here's one Get FISA Right proposed via "Ask the President":

   Before you were elected, you committed to having your attorney general review domestic surveillance policy. What are your plans and timeframe to get FISA right?

   If anybody reading this thinks it's a good question, please vote for it at http://www.communitycounts.com/forum/?id=obama&linked=nnkyn ... thanks!

   jon

   Posted by JonPincus at 03/23/2009 @ 10:31pm

6. Another good question....

   Did you pronounced the word "Orion" (wrt a company, Orion Energy System) as "Oar-ee-on" on purpose, 3 times, for laughs...or is that how your TelePrompter pronounced it and you deferred to it accordingly?

   Folks, looks like Magic needs more science/astronomy education!

   Posted by Happy at 03/23/2009 @ 10:43pm

7. 1. Will The Washington Post ask about sports again?

   No, they want to know how Obamanation got 14 of the sweet 16 games right after seeing who he picked for his cabinet administration!

   2. Will NBC's Chuck Todd ask a question submitted by a regular citizen

   Yes, many want to know when they can expect the shipments of military brass casings for .223 and .308 ammunition now that he has removed the impediments placed against manufactorers obataining shipments?

   3. Will President Obama call on more New Media?

   No, he found out Red State, Human Events, Newsmax, NRO, CNSnews and Townhall will be there also!

   4. Will reporters quote citizens -- or their questions -- to channel public concerns on the economy?

   No, he considers citizen input will just reflect "gallows humor"!

   5. Will any reporters go beyond the (hugely important) economic issues to ask about the recently released memos claiming the President has the power to suspend the Bill of Rights?

   No, they might find out he has added the constitution and D.of Indpt. to the list and he doesn't want that getting out!

   Posted by comancheamerican at 03/23/2009 @ 10:52pm

8. This "press conference" for the lack of a better word like "comedy central" will prove to be yet another handpicked turnout of softball questions packed by reporters with a funny tingle running up their legs. The drooling with be nonstop adoration of the new elitist "SPAMALOT" experience! I predict the teleprompter will catch fire and be inextinquishable like Moses "burning bush"!

   Posted by comancheamerican at 03/23/2009 @ 11:08pm

9. oh, the shame mr. obama.

   especially after mr. mccain's and ms. palin's tour de force news conferences.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 03/23/2009 @ 11:30pm

10. Yeah right... all this nut-job mighty tighty whitey righty talk about teleprompters... man o man...;^)

    GWB couldn't chew gum without a teleprompter for years...

    This right wing 'full court press' is just dust in the eyes of progress. Put on your goggles and press on...

    Posted by ttr at 03/24/2009 @ 12:01am

11. Now come on ttr, its just "gallows humor" Put on a big grin like your mentor and join in! Are you special olympics or just a wall street terrorist strapping on explosives like your main man said?

    Posted by comancheamerican at 03/24/2009 @ 01:06am

12. Posted by Happy at 03/23/2009 @ 10:43pm

    "Did you pronounced the word "Orion" (wrt a company, Orion Energy System) as "Oar-ee-on" on purpose, 3 times, for laughs...or is that how your TelePrompter pronounced it and you deferred to it accordingly?

    Folks, looks like Magic needs more science/astronomy education!"

    Apparently, Obama is unfamiliar with the word 'Orion'. One suggestion is, that in the future, his teleprompter should include phonetic pronunciations.

    Can you imagine the hooting and hollering from the yahoos on the left if Bush or any other Republican made such a revelation of ignorance? And what do we hear from the useless liberal media? Silence.

    Ah yes, thank God the representative of the 'intellectual elite' is in power!

    Posted by pontificus at 03/24/2009 @ 02:05am

13. It's becoming increasingly clear to many that our President is not only economically illiterate, but actually alarmingly ill-educated, his Harvard education notwithstanding. While one expects economic illiteracy from a leftist, actual illiteracy is quite a surprise, even for me. Anyone with any reasonable amount of education should be familiar with the word 'Orion' and its pronunciation, given that it's probably the most well-known constellation. In fact, it's becoming crystal clear that Obama often becomes alarmingly incoherent without a teleprompter, thus he 'never leaves home without one'. Scary times.

    Posted by pontificus at 03/24/2009 @ 03:03am

14. (Obama has a ways to go, guys)-

    "One of the very difficult parts of the decision I made on the financial crisis was to use hardworking people's money to help prevent there to be a crisis." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 2009

    "I'm telling you there's an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That's the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 2009

    "In terms of the economy, look, I inherited a recession, I am ending on a recession." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 2009

    "I guess it's OK to call the secretary of education here 'buddy.' That means friend." --George W. Bush, Philadelphia, Jan. 8, 2009

    "So I analyzed that and decided I didn't want to be the president during a depression greater than the Great Depression, or the beginning of a depression greater than the Great Depression." --George W. Bush, Washington D.C., Dec. 18, 2008

    "People say, well, do you ever hear any other voices other than, like, a few people? Of course I do." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2008

    "I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2008

    "You know, I'm the President during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived in President, during I arrived in President." --George W. Bush, ABC News interview, Dec. 1, 2008

    "I've been in the Bible every day since I've been the president." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 2008

    Posted by Mask at 03/24/2009 @ 06:26am

15. He was a great father before politics, a great father during politics and a great father after politics." --George W. Bush, on his father, George H.W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 2008

    "Yesterday, you made note of my -- the lack of my talent when it came to dancing. But nevertheless, I want you to know I danced with joy. And no question Liberia has gone through very difficult times." --George W. Bush, speaking with the president of Liberia, Washington, D.C., Oct. 22, 2008

    "I want to share with you an interesting program -- for two reasons, one, it's interesting, and two, my wife thought of it -- or has actually been involved with it; she didn't think of it. But she thought of it for this speech." --George W. Bush, discussing a company that improves access to clean water in Africa, Washington D.C., Oct. 21, 2008

    "This thaw -- took a while to thaw, it's going to take a while to unthaw." --George W. Bush, on liquidity in the markets, Alexandria, La., Oct. 20, 2008

    "I didn't grow up in the ocean -- as a matter of fact -- near the ocean -- I grew up in the desert. Therefore, it was a pleasant contrast to see the ocean. And I particularly like it when I'm fishing." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2008

    "Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2008

    "We're fixing to go down to Galveston and obviously are going to see a devastated part of this fantastic state." --George W. Bush, Houston, Sept. 16, 2008

    "The people in Louisiana must know that all across our country there's a lot of prayer -- prayer for those whose lives have been turned upside down. And I'm one of them." --George W. Bush, Baton Rouge, La., Sept. 3, 2008

    Posted by Mask at 03/24/2009 @ 06:28am

16. He was a great father before politics, a great father during politics and a great father after politics." --George W. Bush, on his father, George H.W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 2008

    "Yesterday, you made note of my -- the lack of my talent when it came to dancing. But nevertheless, I want you to know I danced with joy. And no question Liberia has gone through very difficult times." --George W. Bush, speaking with the president of Liberia, Washington, D.C., Oct. 22, 2008

    "I want to share with you an interesting program -- for two reasons, one, it's interesting, and two, my wife thought of it -- or has actually been involved with it; she didn't think of it. But she thought of it for this speech." --George W. Bush, discussing a company that improves access to clean water in Africa, Washington D.C., Oct. 21, 2008

    "This thaw -- took a while to thaw, it's going to take a while to unthaw." --George W. Bush, on liquidity in the markets, Alexandria, La., Oct. 20, 2008

    "I didn't grow up in the ocean -- as a matter of fact -- near the ocean -- I grew up in the desert. Therefore, it was a pleasant contrast to see the ocean. And I particularly like it when I'm fishing." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2008

    "Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2008

    "We're fixing to go down to Galveston and obviously are going to see a devastated part of this fantastic state." --George W. Bush, Houston, Sept. 16, 2008

    "The people in Louisiana must know that all across our country there's a lot of prayer -- prayer for those whose lives have been turned upside down. And I'm one of them." --George W. Bush, Baton Rouge, La., Sept. 3, 2008

    Posted by Mask at 03/24/2009 @ 06:29am

17. Posted by pontificus at 03/24/2009 @ 03:03am

    Stock market up 600.

    Posted by crabwalk at 03/24/2009 @ 06:45am

18. I am thinking back to Obama's last press conference and his two appearances on 60 minutes...

    and comparing it to one of Bush's press conferences...

    yep, not much comparison. The flighty cons would like to make some hay out of one word mispronounced, but forget their Saviors total foot in mouth disease. (in another lame attempt to hijack a thread)

    Now we have a man that has a grasp of English, actually answers questions, has a real sense of humor as opposed to frat boy locker room humor, understands the world as opposed to living in a make believe land of capitalists that can regulate themselves and is going out into the world not afraid of the press.

    Shall we discuss Jeff Gannon some more Pontificus? A homosexual prostitute with zero journalism experience, operating under an assumed name, that gets access to the president to ask softball leading, and inaccurate, questions?

    If you are not sure who Jeffy was. you can see him in all his glory:

    http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlLA/

    original/jeff-gannon1.jpg

    On his resume Gannon said he is a graduate of the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism, a two day seminar for "conservatives who want a career in journalism."

    Gannon is alleged to have registered several Internet domain names, including Hotmilitarystud.com and Militaryescorts4m.com[17] and posted naked pictures of himself. According to The Independent.

    During the 2004 election, he wrote that John Kerry "might someday be known as 'the first gay president'" and that Kerry had supported "the pro-gay agenda".[2]

    "...how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?"- James Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon

    -WIKI

    Posted by crabwalk at 03/24/2009 @ 07:01am

19. Posted by Mask at 03/24/2009 @ 06:29am

    Mission accomplished

    "We found the wmd's"

    Posted by crabwalk at 03/24/2009 @ 07:03am

20. Posted by crabwalk at 03/24/2009 @ 07:03am

    Actually my two faves are...

    "I know how hard it is to put food on your family"

    and "Too many ob-gyns can't practice their love of women."

    heheh

    Posted by Mask at 03/24/2009 @ 07:39am

21. Posted by crabwalk at 03/24/2009 @ 06:45am

    "Stock market up 600."

    Nobody could be happier than me. However, this is still a bear market, and we have a long way to go for recovery.

    I would also say that the market is recovering as Obama's approval numbers tank (now at 50-50, lower than Bush or Carter at this stage) and it becomes increasingly clear that moderate Democrats and Republicans will band together to prevent or at least temper the fiscally insane policies of the Obama Administration.

    Posted by pontificus at 03/24/2009 @ 07:48am

22. Posted by Mask at 03/24/2009 @ 07:39am

    As usual, MASK, your posts are partisan and border on the infantile. Even smart people frequently mangle their grammar. Illiterate and poorly educated people don't know words like 'Orion'.

    In any case, your judgments of George Bush's ability to speak excuses neither Obama's apparent illiteracy nor his ability to speak without a teleprompter. Someday, in a post-partisan mindset that age and wisdom will have provided you, you will understand this.

    Posted by pontificus at 03/24/2009 @ 07:54am

23. Posted by pontificus at 03/24/2009 @ 07:54am

    While your posts are always non-partisan and mature???

    LOL

    Posted by Mask at 03/24/2009 @ 08:42am

24. BTW, of those 3 posts....90% of it was simply QUOTING George W. Bush.

    Posted by Mask at 03/24/2009 @ 08:42am

25. Question Mr President;

    Since the time of Chief Justice Marshall, the Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that our govt through the constitution is one of enumerated powers.

    Please cite for us the enumerated power in the constitution to both legislate and spend on Social Security, Medicare, Education, Universal Healthcare (or any involvement in Healthcare), local police officers (except in DC), or stem cell research, just to name a few major issues?

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/24/2009 @ 11:20am

26. this is the best question one could ask obama these days, and it would help him :

    do you know how many trillions in toxic assets are in the hands of say the richest 0.1% and have your people calculated to which extent your plans to "save the financial system" will "save" these billionaires as measured in billions of good dollars that they will get for their trash? and do you think the citizenry would want to pay for the financial gambling follies of the nation's richest 0.1%, etc., if it was asked this question directly?

    Posted by erplus at 03/24/2009 @ 4:11pm

27. I have a question. Why not cut the Pentagon budget in half and use that money to finance infrastructure programs and clean energy programs.

    Posted by hudicourt at 03/24/2009 @ 6:07pm

28. "Can you imagine the hooting and hollering from the yahoos on the left if Bush or any other Republican made such a revelation of ignorance? And what do we hear from the useless liberal media? Silence. Ah yes, thank God the representative of the 'intellectual elite' is in power!"

    If you are connecting left to the media and making fun of Bush's inability to mangle English (Making the "F" in TOEFL mean fifth...god knows what the other four are), I would like to see an example of that.

    But then again, I see your point: the big problem facing this country is the incapacity to pronounce the name of a constellation. Under such a silly point, please point to me the Republican budget plan.

    Posted by onthehelm at 03/24/2009 @ 8:20pm