President Obama sparred with House Republicans today. Live. Without a teleprompter. For 90 straight minutes. Ambinder reports:

Accepting the invitation to speak at the House GOP retreat may turn out to be the smartest decision the White House has made in months. Debating a law professor is kind of foolish: the Republican House Caucus has managed to turn Obama’s weakness — his penchant for nuance — into a strength. Plenty of Republicans asked good and probing questions, but Mike Pence, among others, found their arguments simply demolished by the president…

During the presidential campaign, it was John McCain who proposed a form of the British Prime Ministers’ questions for the president. It was derided as a gimmick. This is no gimmick. I have not seen a better and perhaps more productive political discussion in this country in…a long time.

We need more of this. Full Q & A video here. Transcript here.

1. alexeikaramazov liked this
2. tester-webmaster liked this
3. vasilii-petrovich liked this
4. phofascinating liked this
5. pbsansj liked this
6. alejandriaa liked this
7. thebarmaiden liked this
8. chacal-la-chaise reblogged this from newsweek
9. kaybu liked this
10. colinster reblogged this from clairevo
11. anomalousant liked this
12. greetingsfrombritt reblogged this from chicpea78 and added:

    This was fucking awesome.

13. beachjustice reblogged this from newsweek
14. stillastar reblogged this from newsweek and added:

    I know I’ve had a lot of, er, complaints lately, but this, this is why I love you, man. No prompter, into the belly of...

15. stillastar liked this
16. theinnerkat liked this
17. clairevo reblogged this from newsweek
18. frsh2dth liked this
19. pwnator reblogged this from inothernews
20. changingclimate reblogged this from newsweek and added:

    oh my goodness! sassy and smart! and he tells it like it is. very refreshing.

21. catsuppp liked this
22. peachrox liked this
23. ajr liked this
24. chicpea78 reblogged this from newsweek
25. corcarpemei liked this
26. chicpea78 liked this
27. chrisguy liked this
28. doggabone reblogged this from andrewromano and added:

    Accepting the invitation to speak at the House GOP retreat may turn out to be the smartest decision the White House has...

29. davidkendall reblogged this from newsweek and added:

    If we could get the general public to pay attention to this kind of stuff, that would be a step in the right direction...

30. davidkendall liked this
31. notational reblogged this from newsweek
32. knifegoesin reblogged this from newsweek
33. landlessness liked this
34. apsies liked this
35. eerriinnbbaaeerr liked this
36. mimirose liked this
37. reiestrada7 reblogged this from newsweek and added:

    This was good, and I think answers a lot of questions a lot of people may have, regardless of political affiliation. If...

38. rosa--sparks liked this
39. bethinkr liked this
40. realreason liked this
41. itsherfactory reblogged this from newsweek and added:

    President Obama sparred with House Republicans today. Live. Without a teleprompter. For 90 straight minutes. Ambinder...

42. mustamuseme liked this
43. magpiemouse liked this
44. jaunty liked this
45. spicysammich reblogged this from inothernews and added:

    I see the old Barry from the campaign in there…

46. dastryoshka liked this
47. baffledelffab reblogged this from newsweek
48. seashelllz liked this
49. baffledelffab liked this
50. jimmyjosh reblogged this from newsweek and added:

    This is fantastic.

51. Show more notesLoading...