(Thumbnail image: demandquestiontime.com)
"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."
A new petition called -- Demand Question Time -- is exploding online. The creators are asking for more no-nonsense exchanges between President Obama and political leaders. The idea? To air -- straight-forward exchanges between politicians on substantive issues -- in a public forum. But not everyone is signing off on the petition. Critics think the debates will turn into nothing more than political theater.
We are looking at perspectives from CNN, Politics Daily, MSNBC and The Awl.
On CNN, a writer for The Daily Beast says this type of open and transparent debate is exactly what Americans want from Mr. Obama.
"It is such a rare and refreshing example of win-win in Washington. The President campaigned on the idea of trying to change the tone in Washington and I think he did more in one hour last week than he's done in his entire presidency to leach the partisan poison out of the well in Washington."
On Politics Daily, liberal writer David Corn argues -- direct debates will ease divisions. .
"We had an idea that transcends ideology -- and cable-talk squabbling and blogosphere bickering."
Though it may transcend the political system, it may not actually work in practice. On MSNBC, Chris Matthews questions the value of future conversations.
"My fear is that either party, whoever is in opposition, will have a choreography. They will come up with a set of questions, a set of ringers. They will ask questions that will embarrass the President and it will just be another one of these tricky little numbers inside the beltway games to offend people even more about our democracy. It won't be spontaneous."
A blogger for The Awl says not only will they not be spontaneous, but you'll see a whole lot more posturing than progress.
"It's a good idea unless you've seen how Question Times actually work in parliamentary democracies, where members of the governing parties ask self-serving softballs (e.g., "Do you agree with me that the American worker is the hardest worker in the world?") designed to run out the clock, while the opposition party tosses up as many cheap shots as it can in hopes that something will stick."
This fear of political theater is echoed by CNN's Richard Quest in London.
"I guarantee you if you had question time with the President, I guarantee you it would be six months to a year before you had a fist fight like the house of commons."
So what do you think? Do you want to see more open exchanges between President Obama and other politicians? Will the Demand Question Time petition pull any political weight? Or is it just another political diversion?
Writer: Amanda Klohmann
Producer: Newsy Staff
