Opinion: Obama Backtracks On Town Hall Meetings

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In early June, after it was clear that Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for the presidency, Republican Senator. John McCain challenged his Democratic rival, to a series of 10 joint town hall meetings, starting next week in New York City, and said the American people deserve "a new tenor" in its presidential campaigns. He said he envisions a series of town halls based on an agreement that Barry Goldwater and John F. Kennedy had to hold similar forums before Kennedy was assassinated.

This is a little misleading by McCain. Though Kennedy and Goldwater did indeed discuss the idea of the town hall style debates, no formal agreement was reached before Kennedy's death.

"What a welcome change it would be were presidential candidates in our time to treat each other and the people they seek to lead with respect and courtesy as they discussed the great issues of the day, without the empty soundbites and media-filtered exchanges that dominate our elections. No process questions from reporters, no spin room." - John McCain

On June 8th, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and ABC News extended an invitation to Barack Obama and John McCain to participate in a 90-minute, primetime town hall meeting to be broadcast live from Federal Hall in New York City. The two campaigns declined the invitation stating they do not want the event to be broadcast by only one network.

McCain said the details of the joint town halls could be worked out by the two campaigns. But he said the first should take place in at New York's Federal Hall, where he had a scheduled event planned for June 12th. In true Maverick style he claimed he'd be there "waiting for Obama." It has been reported that if Obama had indeed attended the New York City Town Hall he would have been greeted by a mainly conservative crowd.

Fox News Channel, after initially reporting on a bi-partisan make up of the audience, issued this statement:

"I reported at the top of this hour that the campaign had told us at Fox News that the audience would be made up of Republicans, Democrats, and independents. We have now received a clarification from the campaign and I feel I should pass it along to you. The McCain campaign distributed tickets to supporters, Mayor Bloomberg, who of course is a registered Republican, and other independent groups."

Credit Smith for clarifying the audiences' alliances, but no for making the error in stating Bloomberg to be a registered Republican. Mayor Bloomberg's switch to an Independent was a widely covered story.

As Fox News reported, McCain's campaign misled the public about the nature of the event. The forum was "billed by the McCain campaign as a town hall with independent and Democratic voters," but Fox News noted at the end that the audience was actually "made up of invited guests and supporters." In retrospect maybe Senator Obama is wise in not attending these Town Halls set up by the McCain campaign, due to the mirepresentation of being a bi-partisan crowd.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean commented:

"Once again John McCain's campaign is trying to mislead the American people. Senator McCain should understand that after seven years of a President who has divided Americans and pursued a scorched earth policy full of misleading propaganda campaigns, we need a leader who understands he is the President for all Americans not just his supporters. Copying the Bush campaign model of stacking events with his prescreened supporters is not the transparency Americans are looking for. If that is Senator McCain's idea of straight talk, the American people are in for a long and disappointing campaign season."

If McCain were the one who was setting up these town halls, perhaps it is wise of the Obama campaign to skip these proposed events. Yesterday the Obama campaign did indeed send a letter to the Commision on Presedential Debates framework for three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate to be held in September and October. Congressman Rahm Emmanuel of Illionis will represent the Obama campaign in negotiations with the Commision and the McCain campaign.

Now with no McCain town halls in the election pipeline, there is one question now is possibly up in the air. Will Obama and McCain still attend Pastor Rick Warren's Presidential Fourm at
the Saddleback Church in California on August 16th? We should know the answer in short order.