The American President is Shielded from Direct Policy Questioning

The Clover Helix
September 16, 2009
www.thecloverhelix.blogspot.com

On September 15, 2009, the House of Representatives voted to rebuke Republican Representative Addison Graves "Joe" Wilson for yelling “you lie!” during President Obama’s speech on Health Care reform before a nationally televised joint session of Congress. This resolution of disapproval, which passed 240-179 largely along party lines, was essentially an enforcement of a long-standing tradition prohibiting direct public questioning, and particularly heckling, of the President.

Though Representative Wilson’s infamous outburst has drawn the ire of much of the media, we must understand that the President had no intention of fielding questions from our representatives concerning his health care proposals after the speech. Unfortunately, communication with the U.S. President works like television: the president speaks and the People listen with no opportunity for reciprocity. The discussion is then carried into the media outlets or congressional “town-hall” meetings where politicians push their positions and spin public outrage as being the result of partisan propaganda. References to swastikas and Nazi Germany are rapidly used by both politicians (i.e. comments made by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi) and the public (as occurred at Representative Barney Frank’s town hall meeting) in assessment of each others agendas. However, the Office of the President (the source of the debate) is largely shielded from direct confrontation by either the Public or their Representatives.

Most Americans are aware that in Britain the Prime Minister is required to appear before the parliament where they can be questioned directly on virtually any national issue and the Prime Minister is expected to respond to these questions. Currently, the U.S. Constitution requires no forum by which the Congress or the People may directly debate the executive branch’s policies or authority, and does not require a public response from the President. If such a provision existed, outbursts of frustration, such as Joe Wilson’s, would likely not occur; rather a productive public discussion with the President may have ensued.

It’s critical that the office of the President publicly answer our representative’s questions concerning our nation’s domestic and foreign policies. As such, it was critical that former President George W. Bush be publicly questioned concerning our national policies on torture, war, the September 11th events, dollar devaluation, bailouts, the Patriot Act as well as scores of other issues. Unfortunately this public discourse never occurred. Perhaps a constitutional amendment ought to be proposed to rectify this problem and require the Congress and/or the state governors to directly and publicly discuss America’s policies with the President.