The Los Angeles Times has a piece up today highlighting White House efforts to push back against Republican attempts to block public conversation about health care reform. In addition to launching a new site, www. whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/, the president will appear in a series of town halls, including one in Grand Junction.
The article also mentions the Pelosi/Hoyer opinion piece that ran Monday in USA Today, and offers some conservative pushback against the piece.
In an e-mail to supporters, Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, criticized Pelosi and Hoyer:
“Democrats who are used to seeing a few dozen constituents at their town halls are facing boisterous, standing-room-only crowds, and their best retort is that dissent is ‘un-American’?” he wrote. “Our nation was founded by dissenters! Deep down, these leaders know that this conflict is not a threat to society but only to their political fortunes.”
An aide to Obama said the president wasn’t afraid of a good give-and-take.
Perkins’ comments look fairly ridiculous after the Bush years. Conservatives were more than happy to stand by as the Bush White House routinely silenced dissent at public forums. Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick even takes apart the former president’s Presidential Advance Manual here. That’s right, there were policies and procedures for ensuring a good public showing.
So Obama isn’t afraid of a good give-and-take, eh? I wonder how carefully the White House will screen attendees to Obama’s town halls. The president obviously can’t afford to get shouted down in public as so many frustrated congressional leaders recently have. How deep will efforts go to pack the house in the president’s favor?
Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for seeing Obama get the message out and dispel some terrible myths going round. Will conservatives be booted for the stickers on their cars? Probably not. Will conservatives and skeptics be invited to ask tough questions? I hope so.
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