March 21, 2009

Ask the President at a Press Conference

Have you ever wanted to leap to your feet at a presidential press conference and ask a hard-hitting question? If The Nation, The Washington Times, and the Personal Democracy Forum have their way, you might have your chance.

Sort of.


The three organizations have teamed up to launch Ask the President, a website that hopes to get President Barack Obama to answer questions from regular folks during his press conferences.

On Ask the President, users submit questions and then vote on the questions they would like to see asked. The most highly voted questions will then be given to a credentialed journalist, who will ask the most appropriate one if given the opportunity.


Of course, there’s no guarantee that the journalist will be called on, as The Nation explains: “The East Room press conferences are among the most exclusive and least democratic public gatherings in American politics; the White House controls who attends and who gets called on. So the coalition is appealing directly to the Obama administration to admit and call on the journalist armed with citizen questions.”

The President has pledge a more open and innovative government. Ask a President could be a step in this direction.

[via mashable]

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