A President of All the People

In the grand scheme of things, and particularly in a critical election year, the issue of presidential audiences is probably not of the greatest importance. Except that where and to whom a president speaks tells us a lot about how he views his relationship to the people he is oath-bound to serve. Before we see the last of the incumbent president, I hope someone takes the trouble to review all the public speeches the president, and for that matter the vice-president, and for that matter the entire cabinet, have given and the nature of the audiences to whom they spoke. The point is simple: this administration's officials from the top down do not speak to general audiences representing a cross-section of the American people.

This Bush administration has systematically, and cynically, chosen to speak only to audiences whose acceptance and acceptability are guaranteed. Without any research whatsoever, and based only on observation of the staged backdrops to presidential and other speeches, I am willing to wager that George W. Bush and virtually his entire cabinet have never, during this entire administration, spoken in a forum whose doors were open to all.

Think back. Can you remember a presidential speech where the audience was not hand-picked? My guess is this paranoid manipulation and hand-selection of favorable audiences dates to the second Nixon administration, where the president became so unpopular he could not appear before ordinary Americans. This, of course, was also the period that gave rise to the Cheney-Rumsfeld, Addington-Yoo, blue state-red state carving up of America into us versus them and the anti-Constitutional "unitary executive" imperial consolidation of power.

If you are out to set up an imperial presidency and an imperial foreign policy, you are probably well advised to speak only to audiences of carefully selected robotic ditto-heads, those who surrendered objectivity, critical judgment, and reflective thought a long time ago and who will chant "stay the course" and "support the president" every time stage manager Rove flashes the cue. But if you still believe, as I do, that we live under a Constitutional government where are leaders are elected to serve all the people under a system of checks and balances and are to be held accountable in every regard to the people they serve, then we should demand leaders with the courage to face all their constituents on all occasions and address all relevant issues of the day.

By the way, I also don't recall even one press story in the past seven years calling into question this undemocratic practice of imperial audience staging.

Comments

[PeaceBrother]

Not only will this president not face the general public, but he will not even open himself up to dialog with members of Congress who have even the slightest disagreements with his imperialist policies.

I once heard on public radio a broadcast where the Prime Minister was having one of his open sessions in the Parliament (I think the call it "Minister's Questions" or something similar).

I think we should take a page from our former Mother Country and adopt a similar practice in the Senate and the House of Representative where the president is required to appear before our lawmakers and answer questions about the direction our Commander-In-Chief is leading the country.

These sessions should occur as frequently as weekly in times of national turmoil (such as war), or at a minimum at least monthly.

I'm not saying that the lawmakers should be able to openly "hound" our president, but they should be given the opportunity to ask the president questions on behalf of their constituents.

This would address a fundamental problem that is presently facing us today: Our president is accountable to NO ONE!!

If a president believes so strongly in what he is doing then he or she should be able to explain the rationale for any policy.

Does anyone else agree?

[Purple Girl]

As you too have pointed out- Cheney,Rummy et al were just spreading their wings when the fun ended for thir leader Nixon. Notice the ethically slide for the last 35 yrs. Notice nothing was done about the oil crisis in the '70's (took Japan to drop car sizes and Up mileage, before US corps finalyy gave in- for a minute- love the Hummers!)We are now talking about Global Warming-EArth Day started in the '70's.WE are still discussing Abortion, Womens pay, gay rights,health care for the poor...... Who do you think have carried these issues to the present day???? How or what stalled US out in this very basic issues- THE AGENDA. i'm not prone to Conspiracy Theories- but the evidence has become abundantly clear The Corporatioist began undermining our Democracy as soon as DICK & Fiends got their foot in our Politcal door. I don't want them just brought up on the recent War Crimes- I want them brought up on Treason- starting with action from the '70's forward, every last trick they played. Orange suits and Shackles awaiting their sentences to be carried out. The Stole MY Country!!!

[danielmcvicar]

This sort of false staging of Presidential appearances occurs in other cultures with totalitarian regimes. They pack buses full of people, controlled and paid for, and bring them to the leader's appearances.

Thanks for bringing this up.

[akcook]

I recently read an article on 'town hall meetings' that are surprisingly bush cooperative. The writer was amazed that the audience was kind and supportive, even going as far as weeping that he couldn't take a third term. The reporter was shocked that there was nobody there to argue with him. The headline and article were misleading, it made it look like the majority of the country supports him, until the end when he wrote that protesters lined the streets outside of the building.

[newamericanrobot]

oh come on people.....bush can't be that bad....he did bring us all together....in hating him. i mean when was the last time you heard of an eight year joke? one day there will be a library named after him, and just think.....all the BOOK it will have.

[NoGenius]

george w bush would single handedly bring back the custom of throwing rotten fruit and vegetables at the stage if he allowed the general public to view his oratories. its really a safety measure keeping him surrounded by sycophants.

I wonder, Mr. Hart, if you feel our system is irreversably broken? It looks to me like we've gone too far already. Since ours is a system of presedence, will the future administrations be playing on this playing field that has been so corrupted?

[white mende man]

frankly which sane person will sit thru a speech by George W. Bush or Dick Cheney? God, I hate any thing that comes out of their lying deceitful mouths.

[coonce]

Very good point sir. But then again, this whole administration has done nothing but be an imperial government. How they figure they are any better then Castro is beyond me.

Coonsey's View
Political Blog and Forum
http://www.freewebs.com/coonsey/

[egad57]

Excellent article Mr. Hart. This has been my observation for many years now,no one seemed to notice. but i believe that the president is leader of the united states of America and that means all peoples.

[rhdsma]

Reagan was never as weird as bush. Reagan was beloved until the end. This has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat. Conservative or Liberal. It has to do with the man that is a defect, on all of us and the world. bush is not loved, plain and simple. And his supporters have to stop making up excuses that he is a saint. He will go down as the most unamercan of all our presidents. Shame on us that we allowed this to happen to our great country.

[Citizenofreality]

The President cannot allow the "beautiful mind" he inherited from his mother to be sullied by the cares and concerns of the common people. You act, Senator Hart as if you believe we still live in a Democracy or something. This is not true at all, in the new reality invented for us by the Bush administration if the President says it ain't so, it just ain't so. So sit back, relax, and put your feet up, we have nothing to worry about, until the President tells us who to hate and attack next.

[realitytrumpsbull]

I'm likin' Ron Paul. I think he talks some good
sense, about the borders, about the budget, about the war, about a lot of things.

[Bongborg]

I am surprised they even bother with having an actual audience at all. The recent FEMA fake news conference, and the earlier fake news releases surely demonstrate they know how to digitally edit. If you see a wildly enthusiastic audience in subsequent speeches, odds are one of the retards has finally realized they don't even need to leave the White House to produce their bullshit.

[DemandTruth]

You can bet your bottom dollar that if it was a Democratic president who had a gay prostitute posing as a reporter throwing softball questions at press conferences, Bill O'Falafeloofah's head would still be spinning and we'd still be hearing about it. Don't know what I'm talking about? I'm not surprised.

[joebaggadonuts]

He is playing King, Mr. Hart, not President.