[LINK] eGovernment

stephen at melbpc.org.au stephen at melbpc.org.au
Sat Feb 6 14:18:02 AEDT 2010


> From:     PoliticsOnline <editor at politicsonline.com> 
> Date:     Fri, 5 Feb 2010 19:50:59 -0500 (EST) 
> Subject:  Weekly NetPulse - Questions, Questions Everywhere! 

Questions, Questions Everywhere!

The past two weeks have been exciting ones for all you government 
transparency wonks in the US. 

Last Thursday, President Obama paid an unprecendented visit to the 
Congressional House Republicans annual retreat in Baltimore, just north 
of Washington, for what turned out to be a rarely before seen (online) 
exchange between two branches of government. 

For more than an hour, President Obama spoke and took questions; the mood 
among the 400 or so people present ranged from stern and combative to 
light-hearted and conciliatory. Many scored it a political win for the 
President, but a significant bipartisan cadre of people have come out in 
support of holding frequent "Question Time" periods with the President 
and Congressional leaders.

With momentum following a well-received State of the Union Address and 
the House GOP Q&A last week, Obama kept himself visible this week, 
holding more open forum events broadcast online: an open Q&A follow-up to 
the State of the Union on YouTube, a live webcast from a low-dollar 
grassroots fundraiser in Washington largely attended by younger 
supporters, and several live (online) roundtable talks with 
administration officials. 

We're still crunching the numbers at PoliticsOnline, but on the face of 
it, Obama's exposure over the past week appears to be a dramatic shift 
from the quieter role he assumed following what some considered an over-
exposed first few months as President after last year's inauguration.

PoliticsOnline founder Phil Noble, an early signer of the petition, (see 
below) noted, "This is a bold, simple, do-able, and important idea. 
That's why we signed on as early supporters." PoliticsOnline joins a 
diverse array of supporters from conservative strategist Grover Norquist 
to MoveOn's Eli Pariser.

Follow who else has signed on to over at http://DemandQuestionTime.com

And as always, you can find all the White House live events over at: 

 http://WhiteHouse.gov/live.

--

 http://demandquestiontime.com

An Open Letter to Our Fellow Americans

February 3, 2010

We live in a world that increasingly demands more dialogue than 
monologue. 

President Obama’s January 29th (online) question-and-answer session with 
Republican leaders gave the public a remarkable window into the state of 
our union and governing process. It was riveting and educational. The 
exchanges were substantive, civil and candid. And in a rare break from 
our modern politics, sharp differences between elected leaders were on 
full public display without rancor or ridicule.

This was one of the best national political debates in many years. 

Citizens who watched the event were impressed, by many accounts. 

Journalists and commentators immediately responded by continuing the 
conversation of the ideas put forward by the president and his opponents —
 even the cable news cycle was disrupted for a day.

America could use more of this — an unfettered and public airing of 
political differences by our elected representatives. 

So we call on President Barack Obama and House Minority Leader John 
Boehner to hold these sessions regularly — and allow them to be broadcast 
and webcast live and without commercial interruption, sponsorship or 
intermediaries. 

We also urge the President and the Republican Senate caucus to follow 
suit. And we ask the President and the House and Senate caucuses of his 
own party to consider mounting similar direct question-and-answer 
sessions. We will ask future Presidents and Congresses to do the same.

It is time to make Question Time a regular feature of our democracy.

Please join us by signing the Demand Question Time petition ..

--

Cheers,
Stephen



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