IN FAIRNESS TO HIS STAFF...:

A Pitch on Health Care To Virginia And Beyond (Michael D. Shear and Jose Antonio Vargas, 7/02/09, Washington Post)

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."

The president called randomly on three audience members. All turned out to be members of groups with close ties to his administration: the Service Employees International Union, Health Care for America Now, and Organizing for America, which is a part of the Democratic National Committee. White House officials said that was a coincidence.

...if he doesn't know the questions ahead of time there's no evidence he can answer them coherently.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 2, 2009 12:55 PM