These town halls with the president have been pure theatre. Huge crowd after huge crowd of fawning sycophants swallows, hook line and sinker, all of his rehashed lines about health care, doctors and insurance companies. What is most irksome however, is watching the people seated behind him, smiling and gawking at the president in wide-eyed, giddy adoration. There were flashing moments of light however. Yesterday, a university student, after having challenged Obama to an Oxford style debate (don't hold your breath, kid), asked a very good question, which Obama didn't really answer. He hemmed and hawed, with repeated fillers like "this is a legitimate debate..." Careful observers will notice this. For instance, he never answers how a public option would operate "independently, not subsidized by tax payers."
How on earth can you "craft" something like this? He then brings up FedEx and UPS vs. the USPS, claiming that the former entities "compete" with the government and are doing just fine. But the point is,
nobody likes going to the USPS and there's reason for this! The lines are endlessly long, the workers are slow and surly. I was just at the post office the other day and waited
forever, while one or two sluggish workers took customers
seriatim. Eventually I left because it would have taken forever for my number to come up.
Now, back to this video clip: Criticism aside, you have to tip your hat to Obama's rhetorical skills. If you let down your guard listening to him smile and schmooze, you can't help thinking, "Man, he's good."
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