Spring Break
Obama fields ranges of questions at Internet event
Philip Elliott - Associated Press
Issue date: 3/27/09 Section: News
WASHINGTON - In an echo of his campaign, President Barack Obama tackled questions on education, jobs, autos - even whether legalizing marijuana could jolt the economy - at a first-of-its-kind Internet-era town hall at the White House on Thursday.
Obama said the precedent-setting online town hall meeting was an "an important step" toward creating a broader avenue for information about his administration. The event allowed him to speak directly to Americans through the Web, bypassing the filter of the news media.
And with more than 100,000 questions submitted to the White House Web site for the forum, it gave the administration a significant number of e-mail addresses for future outreach and the next campaign.
Obama joked at one point about the most popular question from his online audience - whether he favored legalizing marijuana and could that turn around the economy.
"I don't know what this says about the online audience," he said with a smile, adding that he opposed legalizing the illicit drug.
After a brief opening statement, Obama held a microphone and walked the floor in the ornate East Room, gesturing as he answered questions in an event reminiscent of town-hall meetings he conducted in person across the nation during his campaign.
Questioned about growing unemployment, Obama said creating jobs was difficult during these hard economic times, and recommended that the work of the future should be in more high-paying, high-skill areas like clean energy technology.
Many of the lost jobs in recent years, Obama said, involved work that was done by people earning low wages and with limited work skills. He said it will take some time - perhaps through the rest of the year - before vigorous hiring resumes, and that might not happen until businesses see evidence the economy is rebounding.
The president was more personal than newsworthy, relating stories about how ovarian cancer claimed his mother at age 53 and about the nurses rather than physicians who did the bulk of the work when his daughter Sasha was hospitalized with a serious medical issue.
Obama said the precedent-setting online town hall meeting was an "an important step" toward creating a broader avenue for information about his administration. The event allowed him to speak directly to Americans through the Web, bypassing the filter of the news media.
And with more than 100,000 questions submitted to the White House Web site for the forum, it gave the administration a significant number of e-mail addresses for future outreach and the next campaign.
Obama joked at one point about the most popular question from his online audience - whether he favored legalizing marijuana and could that turn around the economy.
"I don't know what this says about the online audience," he said with a smile, adding that he opposed legalizing the illicit drug.
After a brief opening statement, Obama held a microphone and walked the floor in the ornate East Room, gesturing as he answered questions in an event reminiscent of town-hall meetings he conducted in person across the nation during his campaign.
Questioned about growing unemployment, Obama said creating jobs was difficult during these hard economic times, and recommended that the work of the future should be in more high-paying, high-skill areas like clean energy technology.
Many of the lost jobs in recent years, Obama said, involved work that was done by people earning low wages and with limited work skills. He said it will take some time - perhaps through the rest of the year - before vigorous hiring resumes, and that might not happen until businesses see evidence the economy is rebounding.
The president was more personal than newsworthy, relating stories about how ovarian cancer claimed his mother at age 53 and about the nurses rather than physicians who did the bulk of the work when his daughter Sasha was hospitalized with a serious medical issue.
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