Obama Office of Public Liaison: let's ask them tough questions

Whitehouse dot gov has a new Office of Public Liaison & Intergovernmental Affairs (OPL-IGA) which is Barack Obama's gatekeepers to hoi polloi. They're going to be soliciting input from the citizens, and I urge everyone to give them more input than they can manage by asking them tough questions.

It's not clear from their page (whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/opl) how exactly they'll be soliciting that input, whether online or at public events. The first would be problematic due to the way they've handled things such as the "Citizen's Briefing Book", which was a scam designed simply to give a verisimilitude of the citizens having a voice.

However, if they'll be conducting some form of townhall, these would be a wonderful opportunity to discredit members of the Obama administration on video which could then be uploaded to video sharing sites. If the participants in those townhalls are screened for ideological purity or for not being able to ask tough questions, much could be made of that including filing FOIA requests to determine what rules were in place.

From their page:

[The OPL-IGA] is the front door to the White House through which everyone can participate and inform the work of the President.

OPL-IGA takes the Administration out of Washington and into communities across America, stimulating honest dialogue and ensuring that America's citizens and their elected officials have a government that works effectively for them and with them.

Note that the three involved are all Chicago hacks: Valerie Jarrett (promoter of the CBB, Obama's fixer, and former Richard M Daley employee), Michael Strautmanis, and Tina Tchen.

Tue, 01/20/2009 - 12:47 · · Importance: 9