Preview To Obama's Online Town Hall
Update, 9 a.m. March 26:
President Obama will make an opening statement before his "online town hall" which begins at 11:30 a.m. ET today
As of 8:30 a.m. ET, the White House Web site logged more than 76,000 people submitting more than 84,000 questions and casting more than 3 milllion votes about which questions should be asked.
The top 20 or so were mostly about funding for education, teachers and requests that the government pay off student loans.
Yesterday, the top 20 included many claiming that legalizing marijuana would be good for the economy.
Didn't like the questions reporters put to President Obama Tuesday evening? The White House is giving you a chance to pose a question of your own.
You won't have to get tickets or line up for hours like those who were at Mr. Obama's Town Hall Meetings in California last week.
Instead, you can log on to the White House website and offer a question – or vote for one of those already suggested for the President's Online Town Hall on Thursday morning.
As of 4:43pm E.T. Wednesday afternoon, some 27,000 people had logged on and suggested over 28,000 questions. And so far, over a million votes were cast for the questions already proposed.
Here is a quick browse through the top 50 shows deep concern about the recession and its impact:
-"What is the government doing to make higher education more affordable..."
-"Are you still planning on penalizing the big business execs who take US jobs out of the country?"
-"Why won't you help bail out (taxpayers) by waiving the 10% penalty fee
(on withdrawing money from 401K plans)..."
There's also plenty of anger reflected in the questions for Mr. Obama.
-"Will Congress tighten their belts with the rest of US taxpayers and freeze their salaries for the next two years?."
-"Will we ever see any CEOs go to jail for destroying the economy?"
-How about members of Congress giving "up 10%-25% of their salaries until the economy is out of recession?"
Perhaps because people need a new way to cope with the economic crisis, or long for the high life, there are several big vote-getting questions about marijuana.
-"Do you plan on letting science end the failed "war" on marijuana for personal and medical use..."
-"I think legalizing marijuana could be good for our economy... Could this be a possibility of the future?"
-"Will you legalize marijuana to open up millions of new job opportunities?"
-"If (marijuana) were to be made legal and taxed, would it not creat jobs and stimulate the economy."
President Obama will answer some of these and others at an "Open for Questions" event Thursday morning. And the White House will provide live streaming video on its website, www.whitehouse.gov.
And you can still vote for the questions to be put to the President here.
Staging an online town hall is decidedly more cost effective way for President Obama to reach out to the public than a presidential trip with all the expenses that entails.
"It's a way for the president to do what he enjoys doing out on the road, but saves on gas," said Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. He's not kidding. It costs over $64,000 an hour to fly and maintain Air Force One.
