Obama Takes Message to YouTube
The questions, which came via videos as well as text, were submitted during and after last week's State of the Union address.
More than 11,000 questions were submitted for the event. Hundreds of thousands voted for the questions they thought best, and a selection of those were put to the president.
Among the topics were health care reform, Sudan, the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay and tax cuts. The president stuck largely to oft-repeated points in most of his answers, though there were some interesting moments.
One involved his comments about clean coal, which his administration has championed even as environmentalists have said there is no such thing.
After saying that he is a strong supporter of clean energy, the president said America in the short term will "have enormous energy needs that will be unmet by alternative energy." He lauded nuclear energy as one source before turning his attention to clean coal, the phrase used to describe the attempt to produce coal energy without a having negative impact on the environment.
"I know that there's some skepticism about whether there is such a thing as clean coal technology," said Mr. Obama. "What is true is right now that we don't have all the technology to prevent greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, but the technology is close and it makes sense for us to make that investment now, not only because it will be good for America but it will also ultimately be good internationally."
The president also discussed the situation in Sudan and its Darfur region, which did not come up in his State of the Union address.
"We continue to put pressure on the Sudanese government," Mr. Obama said. "If they are not cooperative in these efforts, then it is going to be appropriate for us to conclude that engagement doesn't work, and we're going to have to apply additional pressure on Sudan in order to achieve our objectives. But my hope is, is that we can broker agreements with all the parties involved to deal with what has been enormous human tragedy in that region."
Echoing comments Friday, Mr. Obama said a questioner who asked why some health care meetings were not televised was making a "fair criticism," though he said his administration was the most transparent in history.
At the end of the broadcast, which will be posted here, the president pronounced the experience "terrific," saying he hopes "we get a chance to do this on a more regular basis, because it gives me great access to all the people out there with wonderful ideas."
The president has not done traditional press conferences in recent months, opting instead to sit down with individual reporters or do non-traditional events like the YouTube chat. White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer told Politico that the White House is frustrated with the focus on process instead of information in traditional journalism and is "trying to fill that gap by producing content here in the White House."
It is not yet known how many people tuned into the webcast.