It would seem David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel have greater faith in Barack Obama's varied teleprompters than in their man in an unstructured setting.
Several weeks ago, it was announced that tomorrow the president would attend a town hall in Warren, Michigan, a Macomb County suburb of Detroit. Yesterday, however, the White House announced that Obama would not take questions from a community angry over his stimulus plans and auto bailout and where unemployment is higher than the national average of about 10 percent. Instead Obama will make a prepared speech, expected to focus, White House sources said, on education and job retraining programs.
The decision was made, according to Democrat sources in Michigan, after party officials determined that Republicans, as well as auto workers, were planning on seeking admission to the event, to ask questions of the President on the economy, taxes, auto and bank bailouts, and the scandal-ridden Democrat House member, John Conyers .
"There were also rumors that Republicans were going to hold their own town hall nearby to answer the questions Obama did not," says a state Democrat party consultant. "It may be a circus no matter what, but this gives the White House a little more control than they might have had."
The White House, according to sources, is mulling to have selected attendees to the speech ask questions specific to the President's remarks, but as it now stands, they would rather control the message than give the citizens of Michigan the answers they feel he owes them.
