| There's a livestream of this town hall meeting at the Miguel Contreras Learning Center here. It's about to get underway.
It would be nice if somebody asked him about the guy introducing him, the Governor, and why he hasn't taken a position on changing unemployment benefit law, and why his staff has talked about rejecting the stimulus funds, and why members of his party voted against it en masse.
...Arnold, introducing the President, touts all the money coming in to California from the stimulus package... but you know, not enough to hit the trigger and stop the worst cuts to health care for the needy. There's this weird tightrope that Arnold is walking, saying how much California is getting from the stimulus but not SO much that he isn't forced to screw poor people.
Update by Robert: Obama simply doesn't get it on education. 26,000 teachers are being fired in CA. Instead he rattles off an attack on teachers unions for wanting more money without reform, and on parents for not watching over their kids. This isn't about reform or video games but staving off outright collapse. Obama doesn't actually understand what is happening in CA.
Update by Dave I'm not sure why this second town hall was needed. It's almost a note-for-note replay of the first one, in the same region, which will generate the same news stories. Obama's opening remarks were almost verbatim, and the questions - which aren't screened so this is not his fault - are treading pretty much the same territory. Just doesn't seem necessary. |
