Last Friday’s rare — if not unprecedented — question and answer session between President Barack Obama and the Republican House caucus, offered a true glimpse of the President’s debating skills (excellent) and of the Republicans’ ability to present coherent, particularly economic, positions in a reasonable way. Since the session was televised live, everyone clearly played to the camera, and the substance offered by both sides was often obscured by sound-bite piled on sound-bite. Still, the session left this former member of the House Republican caucus yearning for more.
One hopes the president will follow up this first foray deep into “enemy territory” with a series of visits to both the House and the Senate caucuses (of both parties); and under rules that allow for both public and private sessions. There needs to be some limits imposed on the length of both questions and answers, but time also perhaps for at least limited follow up. Whether the Republicans and the …
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