After an unprecedented political campaign where Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were used in novel ways to open up the presidential election process, and with the election of a president who has ushered in new levels of governmental transparency, wouldn’t it be great if we could push the envelope and have regular folks ask the president questions using some of these new tools?
Wouldn’t that be better than relying on the hope that White House correspondents might ask what those of us outside the Beltway really care about? Too often we’re left disappointed by the White House press corps’ focus on the tired “who’s up, who’s down” DC game instead of bread and butter issues, and other concerns, such as the protection of civil liberties in a post-9/11 world.
Well, thanks to a new initiative by The Nation, together with a broad coalition, including Personal Democracy Forum and The Washington Times, you may have an opportunity to ask the president. This is very exciting, and is really just the first step of opening the process. Ideally, some day we won’t need to rely solely on White House correspondents to act as a filter for our democracy – -we’ll be able to directly ask questions of our leaders and hold them accountable.
The only trick is to get the president to agree to this. But with significant grassroots support, how can he say no?
Check it out here. Also, here’s a great article with more details about the whole thing by one of the visionaries behind this baby, Ari Melber.
#AskPres
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4 responses so far ↓
Newbie // March 27, 2009 at 3:36 am
It’s a great idea. It will frustrate people who’s issues don’t get chosen, but we can’t say we don’t have a way to give him our feedback anymore.
Two issues that bug me about the first online forum: It was held on a weekday, when most people lucky to still have a job are working.
And the biggest news I heard all day about it was about Obama’s flippant response to the marijuana legalization/taxation issue. Not smart, not humane. I hope he does better next time.
The new design of the Ask the President website is so, so much better than the one we used for today’s maiden voyage, very nice.
maureen (aka awaketoday) // April 2, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Excellent idea. Already posted a question I couldn’t keep to myself. Surely there are millions more out there. They all deserve a chance.
girldujour // April 7, 2009 at 2:19 am
President Barack Hussein Obama. Four of the most beautiful words I have heard.
maureen (aka awaketoday) // April 7, 2009 at 5:07 pm
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