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    Obama Health Care Town Hall: When Change Meets Shout

    By Deadman on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 1:12pm | Politics, Health

    Obama is about to hold his first town hall meeting to help sell his health care reform plan. Will it be a more controlled affair than the disasters that have taken place in other similar meetings throughout this great nation of ours?

    When I saw what happened in my own hometown city of St. Louis last week, where protesters shouted down a town hall meeting being held by Russ Carnahan, it made me sick. You can't even hear the politicians talk, and the shouters from the audience are just as incomprehensible. It ended in arrests and scuffles.

    i will have a more detailed posting on the Decibelization of Politics later today (hopeully) but for now I want to watch the Obama town hall. Here's hoping he's allowed to speak and answer tough questions without being drowned out.

     

    Topics: 
    Politics
    Health

    Comments

    Quick thoughts on the Obama meeting: I still say he isn't passionate enough about the need for change, but I thought it was a solid performance by Obama, especially at the end when he compared the options Congressmen have versus the flawed system most of the rest of us have.

    He at least addressed the other side, dismissing some of the more misleading arguments against reform while being respectful of those which actually have some legitmacy.

    The civility of the meeting was a pleasant surprise, and I thought it was wise of Obama to focus on skeptics in the audience. I do wonder how they were able to silence the shouters (is that just New Hampshirites being cooler than most of the rest of the nation?) and worry that to independents or undecideds the meeting felt too much like a scripted, controlled campaign rally than a genuine town hall meeting.

    What did you all think of the meeting?


    by Deadman on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 3:02pm