E. J. Dionne: Now let’s Have an Obama-Palin Debate

babylonsister

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Sun Jan-31-10 03:33 PM
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E. J. Dionne: Now let’s Have an Obama-Palin Debate

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/01/lets_have_an_obama-palin_debat.html

Now let’s Have an Obama-Palin Debate
E. J. Dionne

snip//

The session was a reminder of how few occasions there are in American politics (outside of presidential debates) in which average citizens get to see the parties square off and test their ideas in a real back-and-forth. It’s a flaw in our system. Congressional debates occasionally do this, but many of these are now highly stylized -- and they are not in the easy-going, easy-to-follow format of Obama’s encounter with House Republicans.

But if the meeting was good for Obama with his base, it was also useful for his effort to win back middle-of-the-road voters. Obama was occasionally tough in his repartee, but his overall style was friendly, and he repeatedly spoke respectfully of Republicans. For example, he praised Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) as “a pretty sincere guy.” But underscoring his overall point of how demonized he was in Republican circles, Obama immediately noted that he didn’t want his kind words to be used against Ryan in a Republican primary. So he added: “I didn’t mean it. Don’t want to hurt you, man.” Even the Republicans had to laugh.

More seriously, Obama went thoroughly post-partisan at many points in the discussion, notably with these words:

We’ve got to be careful about what we say about each other sometimes, because it boxes us in ways that makes it difficult for us to work together, because our constituents start believing us. They don’t know sometimes this is just politics what you guys -- or folks on my side do sometimes.

Criticizing your own party at the same time you are criticizing the other party goes down very well with independents.

The Q&A was a smash success, and we need many more. Let’s have Obama do the same kind of session with the Senate Republicans. Then, let’s have him debate potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates, starting with Sarah Palin, and then, perhaps, Mitt Romney. I’m quite serious. Tens of millions of Americans would turn on to politics again. The potential Republican candidates will accept, if only for the publicity and a chance to prove they can take on Obama. And no, let there be no media moderator, no one keeping time, no one to give one of the participants a chance to hide. Just the two of them, and they can take the discussion wherever they want. The beauty of the Baltimore event was that it was just Obama and the Republicans, with no one outside politics getting in the way.

This sort of discussion would be far more enlightening than the average run of televised politics. And it would serve as a reminder that the president is a politician, not a king. The opposition has a right to challenge him. The power of the leader in a democratic republic comes not from force but from persuasion. Let the Republicans step up and test Obama’s ideas against theirs. It will be fun to watch, and good for the country.

Here’s hoping that what happened in Baltimore is the start of something big.