Weekly Town Hall Meetings?
June 4th, 2008 at 03:05pm Geoff
Now that Sen. Obama has made official what has long been the inevitable—and allow me to join the chorus in congratulating him for his historic and impressive nomination—the general election campaign may begin in earnest. To that end, Sen. McCain has urged Sen. Obama to join him in weekly town hall meetings with voters throughout the country between now and the opening gavel of the Democratic National Convention in August.
We should all encourage Sen. Obama to accept, for such unscripted, free-flowing dialogues would go a long way in establishing this presidential campaign as substantive and becoming the momentous times this republic is in the midst of. As Sen. McCain said in a conference call with reporters today, “People want specifics. That’s why town hall meetings are better rather than long speeches….And I’m not sure how illuminating it is frankly with these kind of catch all phrases – I admire [Obama’s] skills and ability but I think Americans are going to want the details. When 80 percent of Americans think country is on the wrong track, they’re going to want to know how you’re really going to solve the problems.”
It is hard to answer those concerns when a teleprompter stands between the candidate and the voter.
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6 Comments
1. Eric T | June 4th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I think John McCain is right. If Obama is not just hot air, fluff, and media hype, he will accept the invitation.
2. jess | June 4th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Word of warning to John Mccain, this is the last thing that he would want to do. He can not out speak Obama.
3. Joe | June 4th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I think anyone who follows politics would like to see this happen, but it just won’t. There were over TWENTY democratic debates and people were getting tired of them. You now want to have 20+ weekly debates?
I also have to say if they are “unscripted, free-flowing dialogues”, do you really think that plays into McCain’s strong suit vs Obama??? As an Obama supporter, I would LOVE to see these happen.
4. Matt DiBari | June 5th, 2008 at 11:30 am
I absolutely think they benefit McCain. Obama really is not a particularly good debater. He stammers, babbles, contradicts himself and talks in circles.
5. SEW | June 5th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Without reading a script, Bob Stoops might be interested in Barry after the election. He has more uh,uh,uh, I think, uh,uhs than many on the OU football team. Not to mention he has very limited knowledge of the issues. He might be attractive to states 51-57 though.
Numerous debates would be to Barry’s advantage so he could contradict what he stated in prior debates.
6. Geoff | June 5th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I absolutely think town-hall meetings would work to Sen. McCain’s advantage. As Matt said, Sen. Obama is decidedly average and uneloquent once the teleprompter is removed from between himself and his audience.