Obama Flunks C-SPAN 101
April 28, 2008 at 9:12 am
From the Washington Post’s coverage of Barack Obama in Indiana yesterday:
He gave as an example his plan to broadcast on C-SPAN the meetings he would hold with industry representatives and congressional leaders to push health-care reform. “If you see a member of Congress who’s carrying water for the drug companies instead of carrying your water, you’ll be able to hold them accountable,” he said in Anderson.
Sorry to be a fly in Obama’s C-SPAN ointment, but President Obama can’t tell C-SPAN what to do. C-SPAN is independent of the government. Broadcasting decisions are C-SPAN’s to make. Heck, they might even opt to cover Jeremiah Wright, instead. It’s called free speech.
Ontario Emperor said,
April 28, 2008 @ 11:47 am
A more general question - how will Obama (or McCain, or Clinton) perform as the next President transitions from a legislative to an executive role? In my view, Gerald Ford displayed a keen understanding of the differences between being a legislator and being an executive. Even though he had the misfortune of serving at a time when Congress enjoyed wide political popularity, Ford used the tools at his disposal (read “veto”) to assert executive authority as best he could.