About that C-SPAN Pledge...
BY Nancy Scola | Monday, February 8 2010
Credit: C-SPANThe White House seems to be gearing up to kill three birds with one stone.
During a pre-Super Bowl interview, President Obama announced that he's invited Republicans to a half-day summit on February 25th that will give them an opportunity to present their proposals for fixing health care. The GOP has complained that Obama hasn't yet heard out their contributions to the health care debate -- bird one. Bird two is that the GOP isn't in much of a position to turn down the session, but it may well be a repeat performance of Obama's "question time" with the House Republican Caucus from earlier this month where Obama grasped much of the limelight, a fair amount of praise, and a bit of breathing room for his health care push.
As for bird three? Well, you'll remember that many on the right and left have criticized Obama from backtracking on his campaign pledge to hold health care negotiations live on C-SPAN. It's become a favorite cudgel for Republicans to use against Obama's push for health care reform. The summit later this month is a chance to combat that line of critique, at least just a little.
I asked C-SPAN communications director Howard Mortman if the network planned on airing the proposed White House health care summit. Short answer: heck yes. Slightly longer answer: "C-SPAN will carry it live and replay it...completely at night," said Mortman, continuing, "plus archive the event through the C-SPAN Video Library."