Spring Break
Civility reintroduced to the Washington world
Brandon Southward
Issue date: 3/3/09 Section: Forum
While on the campaign trail, Candidate Barack Obama talked of changing the ways of Washington and bringing some civility back to our national politics. From disregarding old policies on legislative and executive branch relations to providing more transparency to the press to opening up the White House, President Obama seems to be following through on this pledge and more.
A moment of change occurred last Monday when President Obama hosted a fiscal responsibility summit. He welcomed business executives, union leaders, former government officials and members of Congress to the White House to discuss getting our country's deficit under control.
This was encouraging for many reasons: one, it actually admitted we have serious deficits we can no longer ignore and two, it was encouraging to see that there was warmth and a need to get along from not only President Obama but the members of Congress as well.
My favorite moment of the evening was after the summit concluded, when President Obama held a press conference where he took questions from members of Congress.
This was not British style, where the prime minister goes in front of the parliament and is grilled. This was instead a civil and spirited question-and-answer session where each side was able to articulate their opinion in a respectful and thoughtful manner.
President Obama took questions from former rivals like John McCain and even joked with one of his fiercest critics, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor. This is a striking change of the last sixteen years, where relations between the legislative and executive branches were strained and at times vengeful.
Another striking departure from old Washington ways is that there has been change in relations between the press and White House. For decades, the press openly complained about the press secretary not being in on the decision making of the president, leading to a possible disconnect between actual policy and what the secretary was telling them. With Robert Gibbs in the role, there is now a press secretary who is a prominent member of the president's inner circle.
A moment of change occurred last Monday when President Obama hosted a fiscal responsibility summit. He welcomed business executives, union leaders, former government officials and members of Congress to the White House to discuss getting our country's deficit under control.
This was encouraging for many reasons: one, it actually admitted we have serious deficits we can no longer ignore and two, it was encouraging to see that there was warmth and a need to get along from not only President Obama but the members of Congress as well.
My favorite moment of the evening was after the summit concluded, when President Obama held a press conference where he took questions from members of Congress.
This was not British style, where the prime minister goes in front of the parliament and is grilled. This was instead a civil and spirited question-and-answer session where each side was able to articulate their opinion in a respectful and thoughtful manner.
President Obama took questions from former rivals like John McCain and even joked with one of his fiercest critics, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor. This is a striking change of the last sixteen years, where relations between the legislative and executive branches were strained and at times vengeful.
Another striking departure from old Washington ways is that there has been change in relations between the press and White House. For decades, the press openly complained about the press secretary not being in on the decision making of the president, leading to a possible disconnect between actual policy and what the secretary was telling them. With Robert Gibbs in the role, there is now a press secretary who is a prominent member of the president's inner circle.
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