Ezra Klein on the implications of Obama’s question time with House GOP

Good analysis of the implications of Obama’s question time with GOP that I’ve seen – though it’s interesting that Klein loves that a policy debate broke out, but then emphasizes the political implications of that debate. I’m also unsure whether the “policy” side of this broke through the media’s blackout of all policy issues.

Clipped from voices.washingtonpost.com

I was at a photo opportunity and a policy debate broke out.

Obama’s Q&A session with the House Republicans was transfixing. What should have been a banal exchange of talking points was actually a riveting reminder of how rarely you hear actual debate — which is separate from disagreement — between political players.

Instead, Obama stood at a podium for an hour and hammered his assailants. That makes it sound partisan and disrespectful. But it wasn’t. It was partisan, but respectful.

And that was the message of Obama’s session. Not that the Republicans were right. But that he’d looked hard enough at their ideas to realize they were wrong.

Republicans are already spreading the word that they made a mistake allowing cameras into the event. Apparently, transparency sounds better in press releases than it does in practice.