My Take on What Happened in Baltimore on "Friday"

By the time I finished watching Obama conclude his Q&A with the GOP House Conference up in Baltimore yesterday, this was the first thought that came into my mind about the GOP:



What Obama did on Friday was something that I could never imagine George W. Bush doing when the Democrats were in the minority. I am not sure that Bush could have fielded questions like that, off the cuff, with equally substantive (and politically beneficial) results. All I know is that I appreciated watching every bit of it.

Obama showed everyone in that room more respect than they would ever show him. The weakness of the GOP's ideas on health care, for example, were on full display. If I hear portability and tort reform one more time, I am going to scream. Neither of those issues helps to insure the millions who are currently uninsured, nor do those issues help to reduce the overall costs of health insurance.

This should be a monthly event. I think that doing Q&A sessions with various caucuses and conferences on the Hill would really help all of us, regular Americans, understand where the administration and Congress are coming from, and it would provide regular Americans an opportunity to hold the President, as well as Congress, accountable for their political rhetoric.

I also thought it was brilliant of Obama to point out that because of the outrageous political rhetoric of the GOP members, they have essentially boxed themselves in with their supporters. If Obama gets GOP help, then those GOP members risk genuine retribution from their party members. Last week provided a good example of the box that GOP members have put themselves in (see here).

As for my bottom line assessment about Friday in B-more, Chris Tucker said it all.