Obamafarce: Healthcare Townhall a Staged Production

OBAMAFARCE- HEALTH CARE TOWN HALL A REHEARSED SET-UP
By Michael D. Shear and Jose Antonio Vargas, Washington Post

President Obama offered a wonkish defense of his embattled health-care reform effort during an hour-long town hall meeting in Northern Virginia yesterday that featured seven questions, including one sent via Twitter and several from a handpicked audience of supporters.

With the president's health-care ambitions meeting a cool reception on Capitol Hill, the administration is increasingly seeking to pressure lawmakers with evidence of the public's desire for action as well as proof that the health-care industry is a stakeholder in -- not an opponent of -- the effort. "The naysayers are already lining up," he said in remarks before taking questions.

The challenge for opponents, he said, is: "What's your alternative? Is your alternative just to stand pat and watch more and more families lose their health care?" Obama made his pitch before an audience of about 200 people at Northern Virginia Community College's Annandale campus, including students, administrators, professors and local residents.

But the real targets of the message were far beyond Annandale, and the White House is hoping to use social media sites such as Twitter and Face book to reach constituents across the country.

"This is a moral imperative, and it is an economic imperative," he told the live and online audience as he waded through health-care financing statistics. Even as he spoke, the Republican Party live-blogged its opposition.

"Obama says our economy is in crisis because of health care costs," wrote Matt Moon, deputy research director at the Republican National Committee. "But his government-run plan will make it even worse, putting our country further into debt."

In the stage-managed event, questions for Obama came from a live audience selected by the White House and the college, and from Internet questions chosen by the administration's new-media team. Of the seven questions the president answered, four were selected by his staff from videos submitted to the White House Web site or from those responding to a request for "tweets."

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