Wright’s second principle of epistemology states:
A well asked question (almost) answers itself.
Sometimes people try to figure out answers before they make sure they are asking the right question.
I do not begrudge President Obama his “press conference” earlier this week even though that was not quite what it was. There was a predetermined list of reporters and questions which the president used. (And both in fairness and for the record President Bush is known to have done exactly the same thing.) So nobody was going to ask him about anything he did not want to discuss. Or – to put it more precisely – nobody was going to ask a question he did not like.
I just wish it was not called a “press conference”. If most of the reporters there were basically there to listen and take notes to what the president had decided beforehand he was going to say. Really more of an “address to the nation” (read – speech) in a question-an-answer format. No biggie.
Anyways along comes Larry Elder to share with us a list of questions that did not get asked that should have been. My three favorites are:
1) Mr. President, tonight you criticized those who argue that FDR’s policies failed. I’d like to read a passage from the diary of Henry Morgenthau, FDR’s Treasury secretary: “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started and an enormous debt to boot!” Please comment.
2) Mr. President, this is a two-part question. In your opening statement, you called today’s economic situation “the most profound economic emergency since the Great Depression” and later “the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” But in the 1981-82 recession, unemployment reached 10.8 percent in 1982 versus 7.6 today. Reagan inherited an annual inflation rate of 13.5 percent, while you, sir, came in with a 0.1 percent inflation rate. Prime interest rates reached 21.5 percent at the end of 1980, compared with 3.25 percent at the end of 2008. Reagan did not ask for a “rescue” or “bailout” package. He cut taxes and slowed the rate of domestic spending. Unemployment, inflation and interest rates went down. The Treasury collected more revenue than ever. First, how then — at least so far — is this the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression? And second, given Reagan’s success, why not cut taxes, reduce domestic spending, and leave taxpayers and consumers with more money to save, spend and invest?
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6) The respected nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office studies the effects of the various proposed stimulus plans. The Washington Times said, “CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing.” Your comment?
Read the whole thing here. You do not have to register.
What frustrates me most about President Obama’s first few weeks is not merely my opposition to what I think are breathtakingly wrong-headed even dangerous policies that (arguably) rewrite the basic vision and character of the United States. I have plenty of friends I disagree with all the time on several issues but we are still buds.
What is getting under my skin (wrongly – and that is a spiritual not just a political matter) is what I believe is rank dishonesty (misrepresenting the past and misrepresenting opposition to his policies) and his apparent determination to marginalize and silence any and all such opposition. As in “Republicans think tax cuts are the only solution – and golly gee whiz they need to get past politics and stop listening to radio talk show hosts”. Oh puh-leez.
Who will ask the hard questions? Who?
Hopefully the American people.
